PRESBYTERIAN ISM. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 

v ILLUSTRATED BY 

The Berean Presbyterian Church, 

PHILADELPHIA, 

WITH SKETCH OF THE CHURCH AND AUTO 
BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR 

BY 

MATTHEW ANDERSON, A.M., 

M 

MEMBER OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE, AND THE 
AMERICAN NEGRO ACADEMY FOR THE PROMOTION OF LETTERS, 
ART, LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 

WITH INTRODUCTIONS 

BY 

FRANCIS J. GRIMKE, D. D., 

PASTOR OF THE FIFTEENTH STREET PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
WASHINGTON, D. C, 

AND 

JOHN B. REEVE, D. D., 

PASTOR OF THE CENTRAL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, LOMBARD 
STREET, PHILADELPHIA. 



PHILADELPHIA, PA. : 
JOHN McGILL WHITE & CO., 
1328 Chestnut Street. 



Copyright, 1897, 

BY 

JOHN McGILL WHITE & CO. 



L _ r 



jest of 
urray, 
0, C. 



The Sunshine Press. 



. DEDICATION . 



TO MY FRIEND 

JOHN McGILL, 

WHO FOSTERED AND SUSTAINED THE 
BEREAN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH FOR 
OVER FOURTEEN YEARS, AND TO THE 
FRIENDS OF THE COLORED PEOPLE 
GENERALLY, IS THIS BOOK MOST 
GRATEFULLY AND AFFECTIONATELY 
DEDICATED BY 

THE AUTHOR, 

Philadelphia, July, 1897. 



INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 

I have known the pastor of the Berean Presbyterian 
Church, the Rev. Matthew Anderson, for a number 
of years. We were in the Theological Seminary at 
Princeton together, since which time our friendship has 
deepened with increasing years. From the inception of 
his work in Philadelphia I have watched his career with 
the deepest interest. Too much cannot be said in praise 
of his self-sacrificing and indefatigable efforts in pushing 
forward the work to which, in the providence of God, 
he was called shortly after the completion of his Semi- 
nary course. What he has accomplished has simply 
been marvellous. No one knows but those who have 
been most intimately associated with him, what this 
work has cost him in care and toil. By day and by 
night, for years, he went up and down the city of Phila- 
delphia in search of means to help to pay for the beautiful 
building in which the congregation now worships. 
Often, I know, he must have been discouraged, often 
depressed and cast down, but his faith was in God, and 
so he kept on in the full assurance that success would 
ultimately crown his efforts. And success has crowned 
his efforts. The beautiful structure on South College 
avenue will ever remain a monument to his faith, and 
zeal, and earnestness, and a witness to the generosity 
of the many noble friends who came to his assistance, 
and who cheered him on by their gifts and kind words. 
When the last dollar was paid on the building, I remem- 
ber how I was thrilled by the joyful announcement which 
came to me, from him, and how my heart rejoiced with 
him in the glorious consummation. 

I said then, well done, and I say now, a hundred times 
over, "Well done." 

Francis J. Grimke. 
Washington, D. C, January 10, 1897. 

5 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



Having had the privilege of hearing read from manu- 
script what the Rev. Matthew Anderson, pastor of the 
Berean Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pa., has 
written concerning that "work of faith," and having 
had full knowledge of it, from its inception as a Mission 
Sunday School, until now, I take great pleasure in 
commending this sketch of local church history to all 
who are interested in the advancement of our Redeem- 
er's Kingdom. It witnesses nobly to the possibilities 
which lie before Presbyterianism among the so called 
"peculiar people." 

. Had the Reverend Gloucesters, father and son, found- 
ers of Presbyterian Churches in this city left similar 
sketches of their noble work, such records would now 
be invaluable. 

J. B. Reeve, 

For more than thirty years Pastor of Central 
Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pa. 



January, 1897. 



PREFACE. 



The motives which led to the writing of these 
pages were not to write a book, but simply a re- 
port of the Berean Presbyterian Church for the Presby- 
tery of Philadelphia, and to give a short historical sketch 
of the enterprise from its inception, together with an 
Autobiography of the writer for the benefit of the mem- 
bers and friends of the church. 

It was thought that as there had never been given 
to the Presbytery a comprehensive report of the church, 
that such a report should be given now, especially since 
the debt on the church proper had been cancelled, to- 
gether with one-half of the debt on the parsonage, and 
since the whole property, church and parsonage, has been 
turned over to the Trustees. It was thought also, that 
inasmuch as the writer has been most intimately con- 
nected with the work, almost from the very inception 
of the mission,, that no one was as well acquainted with 
j^his|cgv, development and prospect as he, and hence 
no one was as well prepared to write its history, there- 
fore that he should write a brief sketch of the church 
while the facts, purposes, and plans^-ai^ all fresh in his 
mind for the benefit of the congregation and the friends 
generally of the enterprise. 

It was while writing the report for the Presbytery 
and the historical sketch of the church that the thought 
was suggested of showing the relation of Presbyterian- 
ism to the Negro, using the Berean Church as an illus- 
tration. Hence the title, "Presbyterianism in its re- 
lation to The Negro." 

We have always thought, and we believe rightly, that 
the Presbyterian Church has an important mission 

7 



8 



PREFA CE. 



to perform among the colored people of the United 

States. The doctrines held by the church are the best 
calculated to correct the peculiar faults of the Negro, 
his legacy from slavery, and thus give him that inde- 
pendence and decision of character necessary to enable 
him to act nobly and well his part as a man and a citi- 
zen of our great republic. Presbyterian Churches and 
schools should therefore be established not only in the 
South but in the North as well, which will require in the 
main the same methods and means to establish and 
carry them on, as has been employed in the Berean 
Church. Hence if there is anything in the history of 
the Berean Church, which will inspire faith and energy 
among those who are laboring to establish Presbyter- 
ism among the colored people, as well as to induce those 
who are able to give of their means towards such work, 
we will be satisfied, feeling that we have not labored 
in vain. 

Matthew Anderson. 

Philadelphia, July, 1897. 



CONTENTS. 

Page. 

CHAPTER I. 

History of the Gloucester Mission — Its Organization, Development 



and Growth 13 

CHAPTER II. 

The Writer Took Charge of the Gloucester Mission Three Months 

on Trial 22-24 

Possibilities of the Berean Presbyterian Church 24-25 

Examining Thoroughly the Field 25-26 

CHAPTER III. 

Conclusions Reached , 26-30 

Committee Appointed by the Presbytery . 30 

The Organization of the Berean Church 31 

Call Accepted and Pastor Installed 3 2 ~34 

CHAPTER IV. 

Correctness of the Conclusions Reached 35 _ 3^ 

Church Entered — Month of Exercises 36-40 

Success of the Enterprise 40-46 

CHAPTER V. 

Jubilee Over the Completed Church and Cancelled Debt .... 47-48 

Report by Dr. Reuel Stewart 48-50 

Resume of the Work Accomplished 5°S l 

Dedicatory Services and Address by the Pastor . $1-62 

CHAPTER VI. 

Advantages of the Berean Presbyterian Church 63 

1st. — Church Finely Located 63-65 

2nd. — The Church and Parsonage are Beautiful 65-67 

3rd. — The Pastor is Thoroughly Acquainted with the Field . . . 67-70 

4th. — The Church Will in Time Become Self-Sustaining 70-72 

Extract from Report to President Through the Extension Com- 
mittee 72-78 

5th. — The Colored People Take to Presbyterianism 78-81 



9 



IO 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VII. Page. 
Shall the Protestant or the Catholic Church Occupy the Field 

Among the Colored People? 82-83 

The Success of the Catholic Church Among the Colored People . 83-84 
The Reasons Why the Catholic Church Succeeds Among the 

Colored People 84-85 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Staunch Friends of the Berean Church and of the Negro .... 86-90 

The Board of Trustees 90-91 

Accounts Audited 9 I_ 9 2 

CHAPTER IX. 

Events in the Pastor's Experience 93 

1st. — Going to Princeton Seminary 93 

2nd. — Writing for the American Missionary Association 93 

3rd. — Studying at Yale and Supplying the Temple Congregational 

Church at New Haven, Connecticut 94 

4th. — Taking Charge of the Gloucester Mission 94 _ 95 

5th. — The Action of the Presbytery of Philadelphia Central on 

Taking the Mission, and Missionary Under its Care ... 95 

The Interest Shown by Mr. Jarden 95-9^ 

Almost Ready to Give Up 96-97 

6th. — Mr. McGill's Revelation to Mr. Anderson . 97-98 

Mr. McGill Took Hold . 99-100 

Other Friends 100-101 

What the Philadelphia Sentinel Said in Reference to the Enterprise 

of the Berean Presbyterian Church 101-108 

Charter of the Berean Church 108-Hi 

Constitution and By-Laws 112-117 

Session of the Berean Presbyterian Church 117 

Extracts from Report on the Work Among the Freedmen to the 

Presbytery of Philadelphia Central for 1889 1 18-124 

Extracts from Report for 1890 125-131 

Part Second. 

Autobiography of Rev. Matthew Anderson. 
CHAPTER X. 

Guided by an Over-Ruling Providence 135 

Great Desire for an Education .... 135- 136 

Iberia College, Ohio 137 

The Character of the School 137-141 

Ambitious to Lead the Class . 141 -142 



CONTENTS. ii 

CHAPTER XI. Pace. 

Entered Oberlin College .... 143 

First Impressions of Oberlin 143-144 

Experience as Student at Oberlin 144-146 

Lecturing Tour 146-147 

Sad Experiences 147-150 

Unmercifulness 150-152 

Walked the Railroad Ties to Berea, Ohio 152-153 

Assisted to Oberlin 153-154 

Returned Home 154 

CHAPTER XII. 

Went South as a Missionary 155 

Early Impressions of Slavery I 55" I 5^ 

First Impressions of the South 156- 157 

Amusing Sights 157-160 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Resumed Schooling 162 

Returned to Oberlin 162 

Graduation at Oberlin 162 

Entered the Western Seminary at Allegheny . , 163 

Avery Fund 164 

Left Allegheny for Princeton 164 

The Embarrassment of Dr. McGill . . 165-166 

Dr.Moffet 167 

Given a Lumber Room 167 

Good Room Given 167 

Impressions of Princeton 168-170 

Western Classmates at Princeton 1 70-1 72 

The Negro Student at Princeton Seminary 1 73- 174 

Hugh M. Browne, Francis J. Grimkie, Daniel W. Culp 1 74-1 75 

The Negro Student at Princeton College . 175-176 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Entered Upon Life's Work 177 

Writing for the American Missionary Association 177-178 

Mr. William C. Brown 179- 181 

Prejudice Rebuked . 181-182 

Went to New Haven 182-183 

The Hand of the Lord is seen 183-184 

1st. — In Leading Us to Pittsburgh . 184 

2nd. — In Directing Us to Rev. Thomas Robinson, D. D., LL.D . 184 

Side Lights .185-187 

Personal Rules of Life 187-188 



12 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XV. Pagb. 
Resum6 of Seventeen Years' Work in Philadelphia, and the 

Eighteenth Since Ordination 189 

Our Motives 189-192 

Our Friends, Mrs. James Hogg, Mrs. Anna Coates, Mrs. William 

Hogg, Mr. William S. Reyburn, Mr. John McGill, Mr. Joseph 

Clough, Mr. John S. Converse, Dr. Reuel Stewart, Dr. E. 

Williams and Others 192-203 

False Friends 203-206 

The Property of the Berean Church Turned Over to the Trustees, 206 
Intimately Acquainted with Mr. McGill for Fourteen Years . . . 207 

Motives Impugned ... 207-208 

Unselfish Spirit 208 

Pledged to Stand by the Berean Church Until the Debt Should 

be Paid 208 

Unwise Trustees 209 

Advisory Committee 210-21 1 

Proposed Resignation , 211-215 

Peace and Harmony 215 -2 16 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Pity for the Negro Contemptible 217-220 

Too Great Distance Between the White and Colored People. .220-221 
Unmanly Negroes, a Curse to the Cause 221-222 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Compelled to Resort to Severe Measures 223-224 

Examples . 224-241 

1st. — A Wealthy Widow Lady 224 

2nd. — A Pennsylvania Railroad Official 226 

3rd. — A Young Aristocratic Woman 230 

4th. — A Philanthropist 233 

5th. — A Gentleman 236 

6th. — Organizing a Building and Loan Association 241-246 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

The Conclusion 247 

The Seventeen Years' Experience Has Made the Writer a Wiser 

and Better Man 247-250 

The Berean Cottage 250-252 

Let Those Who Are in Position Give of Their Means to Assist in 

Developing the Berean Church 252-253 

The Seal of the Spirit Upon the Work 2 53- 2 55 

Examples 2 55" 2 59 

The End 260 



^j^^C ^rt^, J^e^ /^^y 6t*SLrz4- &-^j>jl - 

J^^t&^J!^-- Za^^^^c ^^^^^^^^ 

^^^^^^ A-OJ /^^^ J^&L^C^e^uJL^ 



fa. 





CHAPTER I. 



The Gloucester Presbyterian Mission of Philadelphia. 
Its Organization, Development and Outgrowth. 

The advisability of starting a Presbyterian Mission 
in the northwestern section of the city of Philadelphia, 
was a subject which had long occupied the minds of 
the good people of the Lombard Street Central Presby- 
terian Church. From time to time the question came 
up. The need of the church engaging in more active 
missionary work, or a part of the members going out 
and forming themselves into a nucleus of a new church, 
had been frequently suggested from the pulpit by their 
efficient and beloved pastor — Dr. John B. Reeve. It 
was the subject of discussion in many of their session 
meetings, and it was the subject most frequently referred 
to by their more pious and enterprising members. It 
was claimed by the friends of the church that if it is a 
man's first duty to provide for his family, it is a church's 
first duty to provide the bread of life for the sinners at 
home, and then send it to the heathen in foreign lands. 

In the northwestern section of the city of Philadel- 
phia, was a territory in which there was a population 
of upwards of six thousand colored people, which was 
unoccupied by any church, except by a small Methodist 
mission, and as there had not been a mission started 
among the colored people of Philadelphia by any of 
the Presbyteries for over forty years the brethren 
thought it time to commence the work which was ripe 
for the harvest. Hence there seemed to be the most 
urgent demand for the starting of a Presbyterian mis- 
sion in this section. Besides a number of members 
of the Central Church resided in this part of the city, 

13 



i 4 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



who were so far removed from their church that they 

could not attend regularly, therefore this was another 
reason why such an enterprise should be started. But 
the contemplated mission was not without its opposers. 
Some thought that two Presbyterian churches were all 
that were needed in the city. Others thought that if a 
mission were started, all the disaffected members in Cen- 
tral Church would leave and go there, and as a con- 
sequence, the financial support of that church would be 
very much affected. Others argued that if the mis- 
sion were begun it would expect to get support from 
the church, and therefore it would prove to be a burden 
instead of a help. Several years were spent in dis- 
cussing the different phases of the proposed mission. 
Finally after much discussion, perplexity of mind and 
prayer, it was decided to begin the mission, but with the 
distinct understanding that the relation existing be- 
tween ttT^'rnissio n and the mother church should only 
be a spiritual relation and that the Central Churdi be 
under no obligation whatever for its support, a proposi- 
tion which has been strictly adhered to from that time to 
the present. It now being decided that the mission 
should be started, the next thing to be decided was the 
location. A number of points were suggested. 
Some thought on Lombard street near Twenty-first, 
others, on Wood street, near Eleventh, and still others, 
at 9th and Buttonwood. The attention of the session 
was finally called to a large settlement of colored peo- 
ple in the neighborhood of 19th and Fairmount avenue, 
among whom was a number of families connected with 
the Lombard Street Central Presbyterian Church. 

After much prayer and deliberation on the subject, 
and interviews with the brethren who resided in this 
section, and conferences with influential members of 
the Presbytery of Philadelphia Central, it was finally 
decided to start the mission on Fairmount avenue, in 
the neighborhood of 19th and West streets. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



15 



Accordingly on Sabbath afternoon, the 6th of Jan- 
uary, 1878, the Session of Central Church, consisting 
of Dr. John B. Reeve, and Elders Wm. Still, and Rob- 
ert Jones, with several lay members, proceeded to Mil- 
ton Hall, 1914 Fairmount avenue, which had been pre- 
viously secured for the purpose, and organized a Mis- 
sion Sabbath School to be known as the Gloucester 
Presbyterian Mission. Mr. Wm. J. Johnson, a member 
of the Central Church was chosen Superintendent and 
Miss Susan Mellen — now Mrs. Sheridan — his assistant. 
Mr. Wm. H. Jones was chosen Secretary, and Miss 
Susan Thompson, Treasurer. The original officers and 
teachers of the mission were the Executive Committee, 
Rev. John B. Reeve, D. D., and Elders Wm. Still and 
Robert Jones. Teachers and officers of the school, Mr. 
Wm. J. Johnson, Mr. Wm. H. Jones, Miss Susan Mellen, 
Miss Susan Thompson, Mrs. Emma Brown, and Mrs. 
Louisa Knight. The number of pupils presented at the 
opening of the mission was said to be not more than 
fifteen or twenty, which number gradually increased 
so that by the end of the year there were enrolled fifty, 
with an average attendance of twenty-five. 

The mission being organized, it was now the duty 
of the committee to arrange the time and order of the 
exercises. It was decided that the Sabbath School 
should convene at 3 p. m., and close at half past four, 
after which, there should be delivered a short sermon 
by Dr. Reeve, or by some one appointed by the com- 
mittee, until such time, as in their judgment, there 
would be sufficient interest to warrant the labors of a 
regular Missionary. 

For over three months Dr. Reeve conducted this ser- 
service, also taught a Bible class, when, owing to the 
distance he had to come, and the pressure upon his 
time in his own field of labor, it was thought best to 
place some one over the work who could give it his 
entire time and attention. 



TO 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



Accordingly, on the suggestion of Dr. Reeve, Mr. R. 
H. Armstrong, then a member of the Theological de- 
partment of Lincoln University, was invited to take 
charge of the mission during his vacation. 

He accepted and took charge of the mission in April, 
1878, a little over three months after its organization. 

Too much can not be said in praise of Mr. Armstrong 
as a missionary. Affable in his manners, loving in his 
disposition, gentlemanly in his deportment, and indefa- 
tigable in his labors, he soon won the love and esteem 
of all. Under him, the work received a new impulse; 
the teachers of the Sabbath School took new courage 
and in a little while there was a visible increase in at- 
tendance. 

Mr. Armstrong began the first real missionary work, 
that of house to house visitation, distributing tracts, 
encouraging Christians, exhorting sinners, praying by 
the bedside of the sick and infirm, comforting the be- 
reaved and establishing prayer meetings in districts 
where the Sabbath was profaned, or where the people 
were so circumstanced that they could not conveniently 
attend church. The amount of good done by this dear 
brother can not be estimated, nor will it be known until 
the last great unveiling when every man will be re- 
warded according to his works. 

His influence for good is still felt, and some of the 
fruits which we^had the honor of gathering were no 
doubt sown by him. 

Mr. Armstrong had charge of the mission about five 
months, from April to September, when he left to re- 
sume his studies at the University. From September, 
1878, to June, 1879, a period of nine months, there was 
no regular Missionary, the work being carried on prin- 
cipally by the teachers of the Sabbath School. During 
this period there were a number of changes, also, among 
the officers and teachers. For example, Mr. Wm. J. 
Johnson, the first Superintendent of the Sabbath School, 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



17 



resigned his position, and Mr. H. Boyer was put in 
his place, and Mrs. Emma Brown was made his assist- 
ant. Mr. Boyer retained his position only a short time 
before he resigned, and Elder Still was put in his place. 
Miss Susan Thompson was compelled, by sickness, to 
resign her position and Miss Susan Mellen, now Mrs. 
Sheridan, was put in her place. This was a trying time 
to the little band of workers, using their own language, 
"It was a time when it did seem that their little bark 
would sink." Small in numbers, scant in means, dis- 
couraged without and filled with fears within, it looked 
as if every ray of hope for the ultimate success of the 
enterprise had gone. But against these obstacles they 
bravely struggled on, looking beyond them to Him 
who has said, "Whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, 
ye shall receive." 

There was no better exhibition of faith than the regu- 
lar meeting of this little handful of Christian workers 
at their post of duty. Every Sabbath afternoon they 
could be seen with their little charge earnestly endeav- 
oring to instruct them in the truth and thus discharge 
a duty which they were solemnly commissioned to per- 
form. 

That mistakes were made, and many unwise things 
done, cannot be denied, for When there is considered 
the inexperience of the workers and tlje discourage- 
ments with which they had to contend,. it is not strange 
that mistakes were made, indeed, the wonder is that 
they succeeded so well. 

It was no small undertaking for a little band of Chris- 
tian women, with no funds at their command, nor any 
benevolent source from which to receive assistance to 
pay the rent of a public hall, purchase a library, pay 
fifty dollars for an organ, and meet all the other ne- 
cessary expenses which would naturally be incurred in 
a mission. Hence, it will be seen that their undertak- 
ing was no easy task, and that they deserve no little 
2 



i8 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



credit for the persistency with which they held on in 
the midst of perplexities and trials, working as it were, 
against hope, from what they believed to be a sense of 
duty. * 

We can therefore heartily ascribe to them the lan- 
guage of Scripture: "Well done, good and faithful serv- 
ants." 

Among the most faithful workers in the mission dur- 
these trying times was Mr. William Wilberforce Still, 
the organist, whose services were solicited by Mr. Arm- 
strong. Mr. Still though not a professed Christian, was 
deeply interested in the success of the mission, and for 
over five years was found punctually at his post of duty. 

Early in the summer of 1879, Mr. James Lavatt, a 
student in the theological department of Lincoln Uni- 
versity was invited to take charge of the mission during 
his summer vacation, which he accepted, and entered 
upon his labors the first of June. 

Though Mr. Lavatt was not able to give the mission 
his entire time, as he was otherwise engaged, still the 
work was very much encouraged by his efforts. He 
left to resume his studies early in September, having 
labored three months. 

It had now been a year and seven months since the 
organization of the mission, and it had been truly a 
trying period to the little flock. It very often looked 
during this period, as if they would have to abandon 
the field, for obstacles met them on every side, financial- 
ly embarrassed, discouraged by friends, laughed at by 
enemies, criticised by the incredulous and openly oppos- 
ed by the suspicious, it was sufficient to discourage them 
and make them think of abandoning the field. The 
impression had become quite general that the enterprise 
was a lost cause, and the workers were abandoned to 
their fate. But they obtained help from above, and 
pressed forward. Those most interested in the mission 
plainly saw that if the work would succeed there must 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



19 



be a regularly ordained Missionary on the field, and yet 
they knew, that they had no inducements to offer by 
which to secure such a person. For example, they 
were not able to offer any financial support, hence, they 
had little reason to hope that a Missionary would be 
secured. Besides, there .was a sensible falling off on 
the part of the children of the Sabbath School, all of 
which seemed to point to the speedy dissolution of the 
work. 

This was the state of things in regard to the Glouces- 
ter Presbyterian Mission when the writer stopped off in 
Philadelphia, on his way from New Haven, Connecticut, 
to his home in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. 

It was his purpose after having spent a few weeks 
of quiet and rest at his home in the lovely, picturesque 
Cumberland Valley, to enter upon his long cherished 
lifework, that of a Missionary in one of the many fields 
which had been opening up to him in the South and 
West. Where he would commence his labors, he did 
not know, nor did he care, so long as he knew that he 
was being led by the directing hand of Providence, for 
the call was equally loud and clear to come to Selma, 
Ala., Knoxville, Tenn., Cleveland, Ohio,- and Indian- 
apolis, Indiana. 

The American Missionary Association, which was do- 
ing more than all the other missionary societies to- 
gether, for the elevation 01 nie Freedmen of the South, 
had sent most urgent appeals to the writer to enter upon 
their work, giving him his choice of the fields above men- 
tioned, while friends both in Cleveland and Indianapolis, 
were as urgent for him to come to them. When a 
student at Oberlin, he had labored as a teacher both in 
South and West, and therefore, had occasion to know 
something of the grand opportunities which lay before 
the faithful worker in these fields, yet he had not decided 
where he would go, as he had no preference, unless it 
was for the South. This was the state of mind of the 



20 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



writer, when he stopped off in Philadelphia, to visit his 
friend, Rev. J. B. Reeve, D. D., when on his way to his 
home in Greencastle, Pa. 

Learning that it was the writer's purpose to enter 
upon the mission field, Dr. Reeve called his attention 
to the Gloucester Presbyterian Mission in the north- 
western section of the City of Philadelphia, and said 
that since he was going to enter upon that kind of work, 
he might as well enter upon it in Philadelphia, as in 
any other field. That wherever he went, if he would 
succeeded he would have to make great sacrifices, and he 
might as well make them in Philadelphia, as elsewhere. 

Up to this time, the writer had known comparatively 
nothing concerning the Gloucester Mission. That the 
Central Church had a mission in the northwestern sec- 
tion of the city, he knew, but of the circumstances con- 
nected with its organization, the manner in which it was 
conducted, the condition which it was in, and the pros- 
pect it had of developing into a strong and influential 
church, he knew nothing. 

Yet for some inexplicable cause he felt drawn to- 
wards the work of this mission as soon as his attention 
was called to it, and that, not because there was any- 
thing tempting about the field, on the contrary, there 
was no more discouraging looking field in all the South 
and West, than the Gloucester Presbyterian Mission 
looked at this time. To all outward appearances 
there was not a shadow of hope for its success. The 
children scattered, the teachers discouraged, without 
any money to support a Missionary, not even to give 
him his board, and the want of an interest on the part 
of the Presbyterian Church, as a whole, in the City of 
Philadelphia, towards the work of the colored people, 
made the enterprise look anything but hopeful. And 
yet he could not get rid of the thought that it was the 
field that he was seeking. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



21 



The possible reasons why the writer was drawn to 
this field were these, first, from a youth, he had espoused 
the missionary cause and was ready to labor where he 
was the most drawn, whether North or South or in for- 
eign lands; second, the belief he had long entertained 
that the success of the work in the South would depend 
largely upon the success of the work among the same 
people in the North. 



CHAPTER II. 



Took Charge of the Gloucester Mission Three 
Months on Trial. 

We took charge of the Gloucester Mission the 4th of 
October 1879. Though seventeen years have elapsed 
since then it seems but yesterday. Every thing is as 
plain to our mental vision now as it was then, not only 
the room in which the Mission met, the audience as it 
first appeared, the section of the city in which lay our 
field but also our impressions and thoughts. 

We can see now as we saw then, the little, dark, nar- 
row room with windows only at the rear end, and the 
assembled audience which numbered not more than 
twenty-five persons, principally children, to receive and 
hear for the first time their new Missionary. We can 
see their inquisitive look and almost feel their excited 
thought of mingled pleasure and disappointment as we 
entered the Hall in company with Dr. Reeve, and took 
a seat upon the platform. 

We well remember our feelings, and the questions 
which we put in rapid succession to ourselves the few 
minutes we sat there glancing at the auditorium and 
set the audience. "Is this the ideal church" we excitedly 
asked, "which had been pictured to our imagination when 
preparing for the ministry?" "Is this the vast audience 
which we were to address?" "and are these the intelli- 
gent, industrious and enterprising people which we had 
seen in imagination?" "Have we not been exceedingly 
silly to let so many golden opportunities slip of fields 
which were commensurate with our ambition and abil- 
ity for this poor sterile field, the Gloucester Mission?" 

Only a little over a year before while in the Divinity 

22 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



23 



School at Yale we had a pressing invitation from the 
American Missionary Association to lecture in England 
and on the Continent in behalf of their work, in com- 
pany with the Fisk Jubilee Singers, who were in Eng- 
land at the time. But we refused, choosing rather to 
labor humbly but independently at home than con- 
spicuously but servilely abroad. 

And since we had resigned the Temple Street Con- 
gregational Church, of New Haven, Connecticut, which 
we had been supplying while a student there, we had 
been given the refusal of several of the best Southern 
fields, under the auspices of the American Missionary 
Association, and since our attention was called to this 
field, we had refused a call to the Mount Zion Congre- 
gational Church, of Cleveland, at a salary of eight hun- 
dred dollars for this field, not only where the people 
were not able to give any salary, but where no stipula- 
tion was made whatever for our support. As we 
thought of these opportunities which we let slip and 
looked at the little dingy place of meeting in the second 
story back room in Milton Hall, and the little poor and 
almost childish audience we asked ourselves over and 
over again the question, "Were we not silly for coming 
to Philadelphia, to take charge of a mission, which 
could present no better outlook than this?" 

But there came to us the sober second thought which 
was a conclusive answer to our queries and a settler 
for all time to come of every misgiving that might arise 
from this cause. "What has always been our concep- 
tion of the Gospel Ministry?" we asked. "Are not the 
ministers of Jesus Christ the commissioned heralds of 
glad tidings of great joy to all the world, to the rich 
and the poor, to the high and the low, to the refined 
and degraded alike?" "And is He, from whom the 
heralds of the cross received their commission and by 
whom they are sent dependent upon man for the success 
of his cause, or upon his own omnipotent arm?" "Does 



2 4 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



He not say, and do we not believe it, the same being 
verified in ten thousand different ways on every side, 
that "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world 
to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak 
things of the world to confound the things which are 
mighty; and the base things of the world and the things 
which are despised, hath God chosen, yea and the things 
which are not to bring to naught things that are: 
That no flesh should glory in his presence." "Hence 
with God on onr side and his blessing resting upon our 
efforts that this little nucleus of a church, a mere em- 
bryo, could develope into a mighty power, whose influ- 
ence would be felt not only throughout the city of 
Philadelphia, but the land, and would tell mightily for 
Christ, and humanity, and Presbyterianism among the 
colored people generally." 

Possibilities of the Berean Church. 

This thought having gained the mastery, all the 
despicable feelings which we had entertained about the 
Mission at once vanished; and from that moment we 
have looked upon ourselves and our mission as peculiarly 
representative, and as embracing within it the greatest 
possibilities. We believe^then, and as God's plan for us 
unfolds, as exhibited by the work of the Mission, are 
we more and more confirmed in that belief now, namely, 
that the great Mission of the Berean Church is to illus- 
trate to the City of Philadelphia and this land and the 
world the great possibilities of the Negro for good. 
Latent powers lie within him, unseen by the casual ob- 
server, not even by the church, which if drawn out 
naturally and developed according to God's plan will 
make him one of the mightiest powers for the tearing 
down of the strong holds of sin and satan within the 
reach of the church, and that there was no branch of 
the church universal, which was so well qualified by 
their doctrinal beliefs to draw out these latent 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



25 



powers and develop the Negro into the strong defender 
of Christ and the Truth as the Presbyterian Church. 
We took charge of the Mission for three months, with 
the understanding that if after having given the work a 
faithful trial for that length of time and we found that 
there was sufficient interest in the people and material 
in the field to justify our remaining, to do so, otherwise 
to leave. 

Examining Thoroughly the Field. 

The first thing that we did was to acquaint ourselves 
thoroughly with the field which embraced the whole 
northwestern section of the city. The next thing was to 
map%& c khe field, which was made to embrace the dis- 
trict from 1 2th street to the Schuylkill river, and from 
Montgomery avenue to Market street. Within three 
weeks we had called upon all the colored families within 
this district, having carefully taken their names and 
addresses, the names and number of children, also the 
churches which they attended and the number of those 
who attended no particular church, also those who were 
inclined towards the Presbyterian Church. After hav- 
ing completed this we then had a map carefully made 
of this district which would show at a glance the streets 
on which the colored people principally lived. 

On the 6th, of January, 1880, the Lombard Street 
Central Presbyterian Church sent a committee consist- 
ing of Elders, Jones and Still with a petition to the Pres- 
bytery of Philadelphia Central, which had convened in 
the Green Hill Church asking them to take the Mission 
under their care, and to release the Lombard Street 
Church from all further care and responsibility. The 
proposition was unanimously accepted and the church 
released. 

At the same time a movement was started to raise 
money to secure a lot and erect a building for the new 
Mission, also to provide for the support of the mission- 



26 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



ary. Upwards of a thousand dollars was pledged by 
the brethren there and then for the lot and building and 
several hundred dollars for the support of the mission- 
ary. 

But that the action of the brethren was only done in a 
jest, or as a practical joke is evident from the fact that 
the only one who honored his pledge was Mr. Samuel 
H. Jarden an Elder in the Green Hill Church, who 
pledged two hundred and fifty dollars and fee- cashed 
S^ 4 **^ his - pk -d'ge as soon as we were ready for k , and followed 
it up with other subscriptions. Our first sermon, Octo- 
ber, 14th, 1879, was from the text: "The Son of man 
is come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 
xix:io.) 



CHAPTER III. 



The Conclusions Reached After a Careful 
Canvass of the Field. 

The conclusions reached after a most careful and 
painstaking canvass, for three months were these: 

First. That there was a large number of colored people 
in this section of the city, not less than six thousand. 

Second. That a large majority of the people did not 
attend any church. 

Third. That many of those who were members of the 
Methodist and Baptist Churches did not attend. 

Fourth. That there was only one small Methodist Mis- 
sion within the field, the Morris Brown, on the corner of 
Vineyard and Poplar streets. 

Fifth. That while there was no special interest mani- 
fested in the establishment of a Presbyterian Church 
among them, they exhibited no spirit of opposition to it, 
while so far as the non church goers were concerned, 
they seemed to be as much interested in a Presbyterian 
Church as any others. 

Sixth. That while the people were generally 
poor, yet in point of intelligence and morals 
they compared favorably with their neighbors, 
and from reliable information they were equally as law 
abiding and orderly. In the slum districts, of which 
there were several in the field, there were to be seen the 
same depths of vice and degradation, which are to be 
met with in all such districts, but outside of these the 
people were in a hopeful condition to be reached and 
brought into the church. 

Seventh. That there was a demand for the establish- 
ment of a Presbyterian Church among the colored peo- 
ple in this part of the city. 

27 



28 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



ist. Because there were not sufficient church fa- 
cilities in the district, to accommodate the people, there 
being but one little Methodist Mission, while there were 
not less than six thousand people, which number has 
very much increased since then. 2nd. The estab- 
lishment of a Presbyterian Church among the colored 
people in this part of the city was not so much demand- 
ed by the expressed will of the people as it was by their 
condition, for there was no church better fitted to meet 
the wants of the people than this church. There was 
no church more able to lift the people upon a higher 
plane and make out of them good and reliable citizens. 
The people needed the Presbyterian Church because 
of its elevated standard, the prominence it gives to edu- 
cation, its demand for a pure and undefiled religion, its 
insistance upon a pure, sanctified and cultivated minis- 
try, its doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, and 
the spirit of independence, dienity and Godly manhood 
it inculcates in all who heartilv espouse its teachings. 

Eighth. While we were convinced that there was a 
demand for the establishment of a Presbvterian Church 
among the colored people in this part of the city we saw 
however, that to accomplish it there would be required 
herculean efforts. 

1st. There was no money to support the missionary 
and pay the light and fuel of the mission much less to 
purchase a lot and put up a church building. The peo- 
ple were all poor, most of them very poor, and there 
was no Presbyterial fund upon which to draw. All that 
we received during the three months was our board, 
which was given by Dr. Reeve and a pair of boots by the 
people, as a Christmas present. 

2nd. The apathy of the Presbytery had to be over- 
come by arousing them to the importance of the work. 
Mission work had been so long neglected among the 
colored people that the Presbyteries had almost lost 
sight of them, and they were very ignorant as to their 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



29 



real wants and condition. All that many of the most 
intelligent Presbyterian laymen in the city knew of the 
colored people was what they saw and could learn from 
the colored help in their families, by whom they were 
often misled, while the minister knew practically noth- 
ing about them, not even the condition of those who 
lived in the little streets under the very eaves of their 
churches. That there were exceptions we admit, but 
this was generally the state of feeling when we began 
our work. 

3rd. The apathy of the colored people also had to 
be overcome. In saying that we saw a demand for the 
establishing of a Presbyterian Church among the color- 
ed people, we do not for a moment mean to imply that 
they were anxious and eager to have such a church 
planted among them and were standing ready to do all 
in their power to sustain it, not by any means; such a 
state of feeling can only be seen among the heathen 
as they were represented in the poetic pictures in the 
old missionary reports, where they were seen peering 
far out over the sea begging the ships to bring them 
missionaries. There was a demand for the church, but 
as has been explained it was demanded by the condition 
and wants of the colored people. They themselves were 
for the most part indifferent, if anything prejudiced, 
not so much towards the establishment of this particular 
church, but towards the Presbyterian Church generally, 
and this prejudice was inherited, being associated in 
their minds with the church which encouraged slavery, 
also, as being cold, aristocratic, pharisaical, and which 
had no use for the Nego more than to use him as a ser- 
vant. This spirit would have to be overcome before 
there would be any marked success, as well as their 
spirit of general indifference towards all church work, 
resulting largely from the spirit of neglect and in- 
difference, which would have to be grappled with before 
the banner of success could be unfurled. The home tie 



3° 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



needed to be more tightly cemented and a greater spirit 
of thrift and economy instilled. It would be necessary 
therefore not only to instruct along all the different lines 
of church work, but in everything that would tend to 
the upbuilding of a noble manhood and womanhood, 
as industry, economy frugality, temperance, and godli- 
ness, and these would have to be taught as all success- 
ful church work is taught not so much by precept, as by 
practical example. Having reached these conclusions 
after a most careful painstaking canvass of the field for 
three months, we concluded to remain and enter upon 
the work as a permanency, and to put forth every ex- 
ertion making use of every legitimate means to establish 
presbyterianism among the colored people in this part 
of Philadelphia. 

Our first effort was to effect as speedily as possible 
the organization of the mission into a church, as this 
was advised by some in order to secure both confidence 
in and permanency to the work. 

Committee Appointed by Presbytery. 

Accordingly on the 3rd, of May 1880, a committee 
consisting of the Missionary, Rev. M. Anderson, Messrs. 
Wm. W. Still, John Payn, Seth J. Clark, Gilbert Brown, 
and Joseph Nichols were appointed to meet the 
Presbytery of Philadelphia Central, to convene 
at the George Chandler Mission, now Beacon 
Church, with a petition from the Gloucester Mis- 
sion, which was signed by upward of two hundred 
petitioners praying that the mission be organized into a 
Presbyterian church. Afer hearing the petition, and the 
commissioners it was unanimously agreed by the Pres- 
bytery to send a committee to the mission and if the way 
were clear to organize it into a church. The following 
committee was appointed: Reverends Samuel A. Mutch- 
more, D. D., W. D. Nicholas, D. D., and L. Y. Graham, 
D. D., Elders John B. Stevenson and Wm. E. Camp. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



3i 



Organization of the Berean Church. 

The committee met at the mission on the 10th of the 
following June and after examining the letters and hear- 
ing the professions of those who desired to come 
into the organization, they organized the mission into 
the Berean Presbyterian Church, consisting of twenty- 
six members, thirteen by letter and thirteen on confes- 
sion of faith. The name "Berean" was sugggested by 
the writer and adopted by the mission in a congrega- 
tional meeting as the name to be given the new church. 
The organization sermon was preached by the Rev. W. 
D. Nicholas, D. D. 

The following persons came into the organization and 
therefore they were the founders of the new church. 
Miss Lucetta Amos, Mrs. Louisa Knight, 

Mr. Gilbert Brown, Miss Lizzie King 1 ,* 

Mrs. Emma E. Brown,* Miss Emma King, 
Miss Phoebe Brown,* Miss Susan Millen, 
Miss Mary Brown,* (Sheridan.) 
Mr. John Butler,* Mr. Joseph Nichols,* 

Mrs. Flora Cottman, Mrs. Milizena Nichols, 

Mrs. Catharine Davis, Mr. John Payn, 
Mrs. Caroline Fountain, Mrs. Margaret Payn, 
Miss Anna Gray, Miss Susan Thompson, 

Miss Ida Harvey, Mrs. Letitia Thomas,* 

(Mrs. Henderson.) Mrs. Jane Thompson,* 
Mrs. Anna Henson, Miss Margaret Taylor, 

Mrs. Ellen Johnson, Mrs. Mary J. Turner, 

The Philadelphia "Ledger" of June 12th, 1880, spoke 
thus of the new church: "Berean Presbyterian 
Church." "This will be the title of what has been here- 
tofore known as the Gloucester Presbyterian colored 
mission, it having been last night organized into a 
church under the auspices of a committee representing 
the Philadelphia Central Presbytery. The organization 
sermon was preached by Rev. W. D. Nicholas, D. D. 

♦Deceased. 



3^ 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



The new congregation which will consist of twenty-six 
communicants will be under the charge of Rev. Mat- 
thew Anderson and will worship in Milton hall until 
able to build a church. There is enough money sub- 
scribed to pay the running expenses and to allow the 
minister a salary of $300 per year." 

Call Accepted and the Pastor Installed. 

Having accepted a unanimous call from the new 
church to become its pastor, on the nth of July, 1880, 
the writer was installed over the church by the follow- 
ing committee representing the Presbytery of Philadel- 
phia Central. Rev. Wm. R. Work, who presided, Rev. 
Charles F. Diver, who preached the accustomed sermon, 
Rev. G. L. Wiswell D. D., who delivered the charge 
to the pastor, and Rev. L. Y. Graham, D. D., the charge 
to the people. 

The audience was large and appreciative and all went 
to their homes happy and delighted. The salary was 
to be seven hundred dollars. Three hundred dollars to 
be raised by the church, and four hundred by the Board 
of Home Missions. 

Missions and churches as individuals have their sea- 
sons of temptation and trial. The season of trial to 
the Gloucester Mission was when in a transition period 
from a mission to a church. Never have we passed 
through a more fiery ordeal, and our prayer is that we 
may never have a similar experience. It is an old and 
true saying that, "an open enemy is better than a de- 
ceitful friend." For the one fights us boldly in front, 
and we know what to expect, while the other fights from 
behind, under cover and under no circumstances would 
face us in open battle. There were those who professed 
to be deeply interested in us and our work, and who said 
and did many things in our presence which lead us to 
think them sincere, but who were personally opposed 
to us and using all their influence under cover to cripple 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



33 



our efforts. But we thought them honest. We took 
them at their word and supposed them sincere. And 
we would never have been any wiser if there had not been 
a most radical reversion of feeling towards the mission 
and our work on the part of some who had been our 
warmest and most substantial friends, and who when 
asked the cause of their change of sentiment were frank 
enough to say that they had been advised not to work 
in the interest of the mission and its missionary as he 
was in the way of the consolidation of the First African 
Presbyterian Church and the mission, and personal 
friends of theirs who in their judgment were better quali- 
fied to build up the work, and they told us who those 
advisers were. 

To say that we were hurt, only mildly expresses it, we 
were wounded to the heart, mangled, bleeding, and our 
suffering was intense. If we had been literally pierced to 
the heart and our body mangled and covered with our life 
blood we could not have experienced more intense suf- 
fering then when this revelation was made. We had en- 
tered upon the work of the Gloucester Mission with the 
purest of motives, no one could have labored more hon- 
estly and with purer motives. We had but one object 
in view and that was to assist in the advancement of the 
Redeemer's Kingdom by raising the standard of the 
colored people of Philadelphia and the land, to a higher 
plane, the instrument being, the Presbyterian Church, 
and we were ready to put forth every exertion, undergo 
any trial to accomplish this end. But we had made no 
calculation for deception, we had no thought of being- 
assailed by weapons of hypocrisy, and therefore we were 
most illy prepared for the conflict, and if we had not had 
our feet fixed firmly upon the Rock, and wore as our 
sheet anchor the breast plate of faith, we would most 
assuredly have been overcome and conquered. But 
faith saved us. The storm spent itself, the billows 
ceased and there was a great calm. 
3 



34 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



It might be interesting to remark that one of the 
brethren, who was being secretly urged to supplant us in 
the work of the Gloucester Mission, afterwards brought 
disgrace upon the cause of Christ, and the Presbyterian 
Church, who when rinding that he was about to be ex- 
communicated left, and united with a sister branch of 
the church, where he is laboring to-day. And it might 
be also interesting to note that the friends who did the 
most to defend us in this, one of our greatest trials, were 
our friend and seminary classmate, Rev. W. D. Nicholas, 
D. D., and Rev. R. D. Harper of the North Broad Street 
Presbyterian Church, also, Rev. Charles F. Diver. 

But we are happy to say that all who opposed us then 
are our friends now. Time the great healer and cor- 
rector of differences has made us to see eye to eye, and 
to become purer, holier, wiser more Christlike. 



CHAPTER IV. 



Correctness of the Conclusions Reached. 

The foregoing conclusions having been reached after 
three months most careful canvass and study of the field, 
the people and their needs, we commenced work, and by 
them we have been actuated in all our endeavors to build 
up the Master's Kingdom in this field from the beginning 
to the present, and we have not had reason to change 
our opinion in a single instance, or to see that we have 
taken a single step in which we were not led by a higher 
hand, or to loose our faith in one iota in the ultimate suc- 
cess of the work; and we feel that the success which has 
already attended it is sufficient to convince any fair 
minded man, not only, of the ultimate success of the 
church but of the correctness of the methods employed. 

For example, we entered upon the work the 14th of 
October, 1879, without any stipulation as to salary, the 
people had nothing to give, the few who constituted the 
mission could not do more than pay the ten dollars rent 
for the hall a month. At the end of three months 
they agreed to pay as a salary $10 per month, 
on this we lived for eight months, paying five 
dollars a month rent, for a room, and boarding our- 
selves with the balance, for days living on one meal a 
day. In the mean time the mission was taken under 
the care of the Presbytery of Philadelphia Central and 
organized into a church, a pastor was called and in- 
stalled, and the church authorized to move forward to 
raise ten thousand dollars for a lot and church building. 

It might be interesting to state here, that when this 
permission was given that the Presbytery almost to a 
man had no faith whatever that it would ever be ac- 

35 



36 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



complished, it was simply considered as the easiest way 
to get rid of a bug bear which they did not care to 
tackle. For even though it was passed unanimously, 
most of the brethren looked upon it as a practical joke 
and smiled most significantly at their action. But if 
the Presbytery expected failure we did not, to us suc- 
cess was absolutely certain, though we knew to be suc- 
cessful it would require the most strenuous efforts on our 
part. 

When a boy on the farm we found that our work was 
never so irksome when we set apart a certain amount 
to do witlr^a given time, for then we always accomplished 
more than when we failed to task ourselves; and the 
work accomplished would always be more satisfactorily 
done. 

Hence when we started out on the 14th, of May 1881, 
to raise the fund for a lot and building, when Mr. Samuel 
H. Jarden subscribed $250 as the first subscription, we 
bound ourselves to raise SIX THOUSAND DOL- 
LARS in two years from date. 

When the Presbytery and the incredulous friends 
learned what we had done they smiled the more. 

But on the 14th of May, 1883, we had not only suc- 
ceeded in having the six thousand dollars subscribed, 
but every cent of it was paid over, and a lot purchased, 
and a beautiful, substantial and well appointed blue mar- 
ble church in the course of erection on South College 
avenue, between 19th and 20th streets. 

Entered the New Church. Exercises Extended 
Throughout the Month. 

The church was entered by the congregation on the 
2nd of November, 1884, there having been raised in that 
time over ten thousand dollars, leaving a debt of over 
eighteen thousand dollars. 

At the opening of the new church the sermon was 
preached by the Rev. Wm. M. Paxton, D. D., LL. D., 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



37 



Prof, of Ecclesiastical, Homiletical and Pastoral Theol- 
ogy at Princeton, an old frined. 

The opening services were carried through the month 
of November and were participated in by the clergy of 
the city white and colored and also by prominent clergy 
of New York and Brooklyn, such as Rev. Marvin R. 
Vincent, D. D., Rev. Henry J. VanByke, D. D., who had 
been a class mate at Princeton, Rev. Howard Crosby, 
D. D., and ReVyThcodQre H^ Cuyler, of Brookly n. The 
meetings were amio&t mteresting, and the audience ap- 
preciative throughout. 

The Philadelphia "Ledger" of November 3rd, 1884, 
had the following in reference to the new church : "The 
pretty new church building of the Berean colored Pres- 
byterian Congregation on South College avenue was 
opened to public services yesterday morning. The 
opening sermon was preacfied by Rev. William M. Pax- 
ton, D. D., of Princeton Seminary. Addresses were de- 
livered by District Attorney Graham, who made an ap- 
peal for contributions and by Dr. E. H. Nevin, who 
commended the zeal and enterprise displayed by the con- 
gregation in erecting such an attractive house of worship. 
An informal meeting was held in the afternoon, at which 
Rev. R. D. Harper, D. D., pastor of the North Broad 
Street Presbyterian Church presided. The services were 
opened by the singing of a hymn, written for the occa- 
sion by Rev. Alfred Nevin D. D., L.L. D., after which 
there were several short addresses. 

The pastor Rev. Matthew Anderson read a brief his- 
torical account of the formation of the church which 
is the outgrowth of the Gloucester Presbyterian Mission, 
founded on the first Sabbath in January. 1878 in Mil- 
ton Hall, 19 14 Fairmount avenue, by the Lombard 
Street Central Presbyterian Church, colored, Rev. Arm- 
strong, then of Lincoln University being the first mis- 
sionary. 



3 8 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



"In October, 1879, Mr. Anderson took charge of it, 
and on June nth, 1880, it was regularly organized as a 
church and he became its pastor. In the following year 
the congregation began to raise a building fund and 
on the 16th of September, 1883, the corner stone of the 
new church was laid. When completed, it, with the par- 
sonage adjoining, will cost $25,000 of which a little more 
than one-half has been paid already. At yesterday's ser- 
vices, about $1,000 were raised towards paying the bal- 
ance. Rev. S. A. Mutchmore, D. D., preached last 
night. The building operations have been under the 
supervision of Mr. John McGill, who is also Treasurer 
of the building fund. This church is intended to supply 
all that district between Eleventh street and the Schuyl- 
kill river, and Vine street and Columbia aveune. Con- 
siderable work remains to be done upon the building 
and when this is finished and the debt is paid it will 
be formally dedicated. When completed the church will 
have sixteen stained glass windows presented by the fol- 
lowing persons and organizations: The large window 
in front presented by the North Broad Street Presby- 
terian Church, in memory of Mrs. Nellie Johns, de- 
ceased daughter of Rev. Dr. Harper, the pastor: Co- 
hocksink Presbyterian Sunday School: Walnut Street 
Presbyterian Sunday School, Arch Street Presbyterian 
Sunday School; Witherspoon Presbyterian Church, 
Princeton, N. J., in memory of Mrs. Flora Stryker; Se- 
, r - oan Presbyteria n Church ; First African Presbyterian 
Church in memory of Rev. John Gloucester, its founder; 
James Hogg, in memory of his father William Hogg; 
Rev. J. Agnew Crawford, D. D., pastor of the Falling 
Spring Presbyterian Church, Chambersburg, Pa., in 
memory of his father, the Rev. Samuel Wylie Crawford, 
D. D. ; Mrs. Catharine L. Hogg, in memory of her hus- 
band William Hogg, Jr.; Aaron Faucett in memory of 
his grand-daughter, Nellie Ringold Patterson; Joseph 
and Eliza Correll to their parents, Mrs. John McGill, in 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



39 



memory of the Pequea Presbyterian Church, of Lancas- 
ter county, Pa.; Mrs. Ida Henderson in memory of 
Letitia Thomas, and Rev. Matthew Anderson, in 
memory of his father and mother, Timothy and Polly 
Anderson. 

"The following is a list of the services to be held dur- 
ing the month of November: — 

Sunday November 2nd, 10:30 a. m. 

Opening sermon, Rev. William M. Paxton, D. D., of 
Princeton Theological Seminary. 

Address — Hon. Geo. S. Graham, District Attorney 
of Philadelphia, 2:30 p. m. 

Sketch of the church, Rev. Matthew Anderson, pastor. 

Short Address — Alfred Nevin, D. D., L.L. D., and 
others of the city. Rev. R. D. Harper presided. 
7:30. P. M. 

Sermon — Rev. S. A. Mutchmore, D. D., Philadelphia, 
Wednesday, November 5th, 7:30 p. m. 

Gospel Service — Samuel G. Scott, Esq., Philadelphia, 
Thursday, November 6th, 7:30 p. m. 

Sermon — Prof. T. McCants Stewart, Liberia College, 
West Africa, Friday, Nov. 7th, 7:30 p. m. 

Sermon—Rev. Henry J. Vandyke, Jr., D. D., New 
York City, Sunday, November 9th, 10:30 a. m. 

Sermon — Rev. B. T. Tanner, D. D., Philadelphia. 
2:30 P. M.. 

Sermon — Rev. John B. Reeve, D. D., Philadelphia. 
7:30 P. M. 

Sermon — Rev. J. Addison Henry, D. D., Philadelphia, 
Monday, November, 10th, 7:30 p. m. 

Sermon — Rev. S. W. Dana, D. D., Philadelphia, Tues- 
day, November nth, 7:30 p. m. 

Sermon— Rev. J. W. Bain, D. D., Philadelphia, Thurs- 
day, November 13th, 7:30 p. m. 

Sermon — Rev. B. L. Agnew, D. D., Philadelphia, 
Sunday, November 16th, 10:30 a. m. 

Sermon — Rev. Matthew Newkirk, D. D=, Philadelphia. 



4o 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



2:30 P. M. 

Sermon — Rev. E. H. Nevin, D. D., Philadelphia. 
7:30 P. M. 

Sermon — Rev. J. A. Crawford, D. D., Chambersburg 
Pa., Tuesday, November 18th, 7:30 p. m. 

Sermon — Rev. Howard Crosby, D. D., New York 
City, Thursday, November 20th, 7:30 p. m. 

Sermon — Rev. R. D. Harper, D. D., Philadelphia, 
Friday, November, 21st 7:30 p. m. 

Sermon — Rev. G. F. Wiswell, D. D., Philadelphia, 
Sunday, November 23rd, 10:30 a. m. 

Sermon — Rev. Albert S. Mays, Philadelphia. 
2:30 P. M.. 

Sermon— Rev. Alfred Nevin, D. D., LL. D., Phila- 
delphia. 

7:30 P. M. 

Sermon — Rev. R. T. Jones, D. D., Philadelphia, 

Thursday, November 27th, 10:30 a. m. 

Thanksgiving Sermon — Rev. Matthew Anderson, pas- 
tor, Friday, November 28th, 7:30 p. m. 

Sermon- — Rev. Reading B. Johns, New York City, 
Sunday, November 30th, 10:30 a. m. 

Sermon — Rev. Mahlon VanHorn, New Port, R. I., 
7:30 P. M. 

Sacred Concert With Short Addresses — By Rev. 
Mahlon VanHorn, Reading B. Johns and others." 

The Success of the Enterprise. 

The growth in membership has been necessarily slow 
owing to the fact that the pastor was compelled to de- 
vote his time largely to the raising of money for the 
debt, yet there has been a steady growth in the con- 
gregation and membership. The present number of 
members being ninety eight while the congregation in- 
cluding the active membership numbers three hundred 
and upwards. 

The Sabbath School has an enrollment of 150 scholars. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



4i 



The Berean Women's Christian Temperance Union. 

The Women's Christian Temperance Union is a new 
organization which was commenced some two years ago. 
This society now numbers over sixty members and it is 
doing a most aggressive work along their particular 
lines. Meetings are held regularly. The children and 
young people are formed in classes and instructed in 
Temperance principles. Mother's meetings are held 
and lectures given on temperance subjects by distin- 
guished temperance workers. 

The ordinary services of the church, preaching morn- 
ing and evening, and Sabbath School on Sabbath after- 
noons also the weekly prayer meetings, Wednesday and 
Friday evenings have all been regularly kept up. The 
church is rarely closed, but is open winter and summer 
from one end of the year to the other. 

The Berean Christian Endeavor. 

A Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor was 
organized several years ago. It has an enrollment of 
forty members and is doing a most excellent work along 
the lines laid down by the orgaization. For the last 
three years this society has sent a delegate to the Na- 
tional Convention. One Year ago they sent two dele- 
gates. They hold their weekly meeting on Sabbath eve- 
ning from 7 to 8 o'clock. 

The Berean Public Kindergarten. 

A kindergarten school was commenced in the spring 
of 1884 an d f° r ten years it has been sustained wholly 
by private contribution. The teacher working most of 
the time without regular stipulation, receiving three, 
five, ten, fifteen and twenty dollars a month as the case 
might be. The parents being charged the nominal sum 
of (25) twenty-five cents a month for each child. This 
school has since been taken under the care of the Board 
of Public Instruction, which pays the teacher a salary 



42 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



of forty-seven and a half dollars monthly, and the church 
a rental of two hundred and fifty dollars a year for the 
use of the room. 

The amount of good that this school is doing can 
never be calculated in this life. Most of the children 
are from families whose mothers are poor, hard working 
women, many of them compelled to go out to do day's 
work, hence to have their little ones awav from the evil 
surrounding of their homes, if only for a few hours, is a 
great boon. Besides the assistance it gives the weary 
mothers, living often in squalor at home too often be- 
cause of the dissipation of a drunken husband, or sur- 
rounded by the same in the streets in which she is 
compelled to live, to have their little ones for three 
hours, five days in a week enjoy bright, cheerful, and 
happy surroundings, and instructed by an earnest Chris- 
tian kindergartener who enters enthusiastically into the 
spirit of the Froeble system is not only an 
incalcuble blessing to the families from which these 
children come but to mankind and Christ. 

Already good results of the school are seen, in the 
bright, cheerful and promising youths who receive their 
first bend in the right direction in the Berean Kinder- 
garten School. It is no uncommon thing to have moth- 
ers confess to their being reprimanded for using words, 
and doing acts, or neglecting duties, by their little tots, 
who go to the kindergarten school, who tell them, that 
teacher says that such and such things are wrong. 

The^Berean^Building^and Loan Association. * 

A Building and Loan Association was organized on the 
12th of February 1884, which has for its object the en- 
couragement of the colored people to save their money 
with the view of securing homes for themselves. Iso- 
lated and divided as the colored people have been, and 
are still to a great extent, the direct result of the bane- 
ful effects of their schooling under a slave system, to- 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



43 



gether with the existing feeling of prejudice, makes it 
almost impossible for them to get desirable homes to 
rent, much less purchase, therefore their condition re- 
mains the same from year to year. 

The good and bad, the law abiding and criminals, the 
refined and vicious were compelled by force of circum- 
stances over which they had but little control, to live in 
the same streets, be surrounded by the same destructive 
influences, and classed on the same level, by those who 
write up or describe the communities in which they live. 
The discouraging effect which this condition of things 
has upon the people and on all endeavor work among 
them can well be imagined; by it, aspiration is shorn 
of its wings, ambition loses its fire, and energy falls to 
the ground. It is because of this discouraging condi- 
tion of things that there is not seen in the colored church 
the same spirit of self-sacrificing love, aggressive energy, 
and pride of home, church and country, which character- 
izes other people and their churches, and it is this more 
than any other cause, which makes it so hard for their 
ministers to carry on intelligent, practical, aggressive 
work among them. 

To assist in bringing about a better condition of things 
the Berean Building and Loan Association was organ- 
ized, which has secured for the colored people in less 
than nine years, forty-three homes, and whose assets 
are over fifty-two thousand dollars. These homes are 
all inviting, on good streets, and in different parts of the 
city. Nothing that has been started in connection with 
our work has had a greater leverage in lifting the peo- 
ple to a higher plane and has given them greater hope 
for the future, than has this society, not even the preach- 
ing of the Gospel on the Sabbath. No, for this is 
preaching the Gospel most practically. 

It is not the Gospel ephemeralized, if I may be per- 
mitted to use the term, but materalized in the lives of 
the people; it is the Gospel which has been preached 
to the Anglo Saxon for the last five hundred years, and 



44 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



it is the Gospel which the Negro needs and must have, 
if he would secure the stamina of life with which to 
stand. Already there can be seen a most noticeable dif- 
ference in the general bearing of those who have money 
in the association and are paying for their homes, and 
those who have not, but are still living from hand to 
mouth, and even in themselves personally, when first 
they united with the association, and now, when many 
of them have their homes more than half paid for; there 
is a sparkle in the eye, an elasticity in the step, and a 
manliness in the speech which was not noticeable at first. 

These three hundred men who belong to the Berean 
Building and Loan Association are being transformed 
into new men, and consequently they are making better 
parents, better Christians in the church, better mem- 
bers of the community, better citizens of the state and 
of the body politic. 

The Berean Cottage. 

The Berean Cottage at Point Pleasant, New Jersey, 
was given to the church by the philanthropy of Mrs. 
M. M. Barber, of Philadelphia, to be used as a sum- 
mer resort, where colored persons can be accommo- 
dated with good subtantial board, at a moderate price, 
and at the same time have all the comforts and advan- 
tages of a first-class home, without being subjected to 
insults, insinuations, and refusals, which they meet with, 
at nearly every summer resort in this country. The 
house is under a committee of ladies, of which the donor 
is one, and an advisory board of influential men and 
women of both races. The property including the fur- 
niture is valued at six thousand dollars. Its general ap- 
pearance and appointments are excellent, and situated 
as it is on New York avenue, only a square from the 
beach, it presents a most commanding and inviting view. 
For the last two seasons Bible readings have been con- 
ducted on Friday afternoons, between the hours of four 
and five o'clock in the parlors of the cottage. This last 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



45 



season (the summer of 1896) in addition to the Bible 
readings, lectures were given on practical every day 
subjects, between the same hours Tuesday afternoons. 
The following persons had papers: Rev. W. L. Cun- 
ningham, D. D., pastor, Point Pleasant Presbyterian 
Church. Subject — How to study the Bible. 

Mrs. Helen Crawford, sister of the donor, Philadel- 
phia. Subject — Women of the Bible. 

Miss Eva Hood of Washington, D. C. Subject — 
The Life of Moses. 

Rev. Alexander Crummell, D. D., of Washington, 
D. C. Subject — Thoughts on the Book of Exodus. 

Rev. F. J. Grimke, D. D., pastor 15th Street Presby- 
terian Church, Washington, D. C. Subject — Thoughts 
on the Book of Exodus. 

Rev. Matthew Anderson, Philadelphia. Subject — 
The Future of the Negro. 

Mrs. Charlotte L. Grimke, of Washington, D. C. 
Subject — Personal Recollections of John G. Whittier. 

Dr. C. V. Anderson, Philadelphia. Subject — Hered- 
ity. 

It is the purpose of the management to make the 
Home in the highest sense an ideal Summer Resort 
where the guests will have every necessary comfort and 
pleasure and at the same time be freed from those con- 
taminating and baneful influences, which are so com- 
mon at watering places. 

As soon as the funds will admit an auditorium will 
be put up in connection with the cottage, where Chau- 
tauqua lectures will be delivered by distinguished lec- 
turers, and where any may feel free to come and par- 
ticipate. The cottage is self sustaining, and the ar- 
rangement, is that all funds over and above the repairs 
and improvements are to revert eventually to the Be- 
rean Church. 

The Berean Boys' Cadet Corps. 
The Berean Boys Cadet Corps has only recently been 
organized and consists of twenty boys, ranging from ten 



4 6 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



to sixteen years of age. The corps is very enthusiastic, 
and we think when once they are able to secure their 
suits they will exert no small influence in attracting boys 
to the Sabbath School and church. One of the condi- 
tions of becoming a member of the band is that each 
boy must attend the Sabbath School and at least one of 
the meetings of the church, weekly. 

Increase of Funds. 

There has been a gradual increase in the amount con- 
tributed each year towards the running expenses of the 
church on the part of the congregation. 

For example the whole amount contributed for the 
year ending August 31st, 1895, was $453.61, while the 
whole amount contributed during the corresponding 
period this year is $483.07, there being a gain of $29.48. 
This may be considered a small amount for the people 
to contribute towards the running expenses of the 
church, including the minister's salary, but when there 
is taken into consideration the circumstances of the peo- 
ple, the small wages they command, and what it requires 
to keep their families, it will be seen that they are really 
making sacrifices. Few churches can show better results 
when the ability of the people is compared, and when it 
is considered too that with the exception of the money 
received towards the pastor's salary, from the recognized 
channels of the church either the Board of Home Mis- 
sions, the Synodical Committee on Sustentation or the 
Committee on Chuch Extension of the Presbytery of 
Philadelphia, from which the largest amount received 
in any one year was $500, and that only for two years, 
the fact that the church with its pastor has all these 
years grappled with the running expenses and have in a 
large measure kept them up ought to speak volumes in 
their favor. 

Since the organization of the church not less than ten 
thousand dollars have been raised by the church itself. 



CHAPTER V. 



Jubilee of the Completed Church and Cancelled Debt, 
Resume of the Work Accomplished, and 
Dedicatory Services. 

When the church was entered in 1884, it was neither 
finished nor furnished. The walls were unfrescoed, the 
sittings were common plain chairs, while the basement 
was a cellar. After the money for the debt was pro- 
vided for on the 24th of April, 1889, we moved forward, 
and finished and furnished the church at a cost of over 
four thousand dollars, which was raised and paid off 
within one year, so that on the 14th of May, 1891, ten 
years to a day, from the time we secured the first sub- 
scription, we had a grand jubilee over the triumph of our 
efforts. Friends came from all over the city, and irre- 
spective of denominational lines, to rejoice with us over 
the consummation of our efforts. Among those who 
made short adresses on the occasion was Mr. Wm. 
Wood, whose speech consisted in making a pledge of 
five hundred dollars towards a parsonage, and it was this 
pledge which ultimately secured the parsonage for the 
church. 

The following is an extract from the Philadelphia 
"Ledger," of May 15th, 1891, on the jubilee: 

"The Berean Presbyterian Church held a jubilee 
thanksgiving meeting yesterday afternoon and evening 
at their new church building, South College avenue, 
above Ridge averfue. The meeting was held to cele- 
brate the canceling of all debts of the church, the first 
subscription for the building having been received on 
May 14th, 1881. The new building is 60 feet wide and 
66 feet deep, and cost $32,000. 

47 



4 3 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



"At the afternoon meeting, Dr. Reuel Stewart pre- 
sided. Rev. James H. Baird, D. D., delivered the in- 
vocation, and Rev. Dr. T. L. Janeway offered a prayer 
of thanks. The Scriptures were read by Rev. N. O. 
Hawkins and Rev. M. Anderson. The pastor gave a 
brief sketch of the work of the church. Addresses were 
then delivered by Rev. Charles A. Dickey, D. D., Rev. 
E. J. Adams, Dr. J. Addison Henry, D. D., Rev. R. T. 
Jones, Rev. J. Richelson and Mr. William Wood. 

'After the addresses a collation was given in the Sun- 
day School and reading room. 

"In the evening Rev. M. Anderson, made an address. 
After prayers, addresses were made by Rev. Alexander 
Allison, D. D., Mr. Joseph Clough and-efcker members 
of the church. 

"At the close of the ceremonies resolutions were read 
by Dr. Caroline V. Anderson, thanking the many gener- 
ous contributors, especially Mr. William Wood, who 
has promised to give $500 towards the parsonage. 

"After which the members and friends of the church 
were again asked to partake of refreshments." 

On the invitation of a committee consisting of the 
pastor of the church, Rev. M. Anderson and Dr. R. 
Stewart, Chairman of the Building Committee, the 
Philadelphia Central Presbytery held their June meet- 
ing in the Berean Church. Before giving the invitation 
Dr. Stewart gave a report of the Berean Church, its lo- 
cation, style of building, material of which it was built, 
the cost, and its freedom from debt. 

Dr. Stewart's Report. 
The following is his report: 

"Your committee appointed as an advisory one to 
look after the interests of the Berean Presbyterian 
Church, have not reported before this, because we deem- 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



49 



ed it best to defer until such time as we could invite the 
Presbytery to visit and examine the work accomplished. 
This church received the first subscription on May 14th, 
1 881, and on March the 25th, 1890, the building and 
ground was free from all indebtedness, but there were 
no pews, chairs were being used for seating the people. 
The outside needed painting, the inside required fresco- 
ing, and the basement was simply a cellar; hence, the 
friends of the church and your committee advised Mr. 
Anderson, the pastor, to have this work finished, so that 
we could report not progress only, but absolute com- 
pletion; this was done and to-day we present to this 
Presbytery, a church and ground costing ($32,240.75) 
Thirty-two thousand, two hundred and forty dollars and 
seventy-five cents clear of every penny of debt. The 
church has been chartered, Trustees elected, and work 
progressing, according to its adopted By Laws. The 
consummation in ten years of such an undertaking, is en- 
tirely due to the indefatigable energy, faithfulness, and 
perseverance of the pastor, Rev. M. Anderson, who se- 
cured the interest and co-operation of Mr. John McGill, 
who not only superintended the erection of the building, 
but directly or indirectly aided by raising the sum of 
eleven thousand six hundred and ninety-one dollars, and 
sixty-eight cents ($11,691.68). The balance, twenty 
thousand two hundred and forty-nine dollars and seven 
cents, Mr. Anderson obtained by individual appli- 
cation from house to house and office to office. 
For its size we consider it a model. The 
spiritual work is represented by a membership 
raised from twenty-six to ninety-five, and Sab- 
bath School children from fifteen to one hundred and 
fifty. There is a better attendance on the church ser- 
vices, and the people though poor are being educated 
to systematic payments. In conclusion, we are author- 
4 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



ized to invite J;he Presbytery to be present at the Berean 
Church on May 14th, 1891, at a praise meeting to cele- 
brate its completion and Freedom from debt." 

Respectfully submitted, 

REUEL STEWART, GEORGE S. GRAHAM, 

JOSEPH CLOUGH, JOHN McGILL, 

THOMAS WOOD, ROBERT GRAHAM. 

We are sorry to say however, that contrary to the 
usual custom no speeches were made in the Presbytery 
eulogistic of the work accomplished by the church, nor 
resolutions presented expressive of the appreciation by 
the Presbytery of the work effected. We were sorry, 
not because of ourselves, but because of the good effect 
it would have had upon the community and the work 
generally. 

This, in a word, is what has been accomplished by the 
Berean Presbyterian Church namely: 

(1.) Organized a church. 

(2.) Purchased a lot 147x136 feet. 

(3.) Erected a blue marble church 60x66 feet. 

(4.) Built a brick parsonage. 

(5.) Paid for the church and lot $34,000. 

(6.) Paid on the parsonage, lot and improvements 
$3,500. 

(7.) Insurance on house for five years, $3,000. 
(8.) Perpetual insurance on church $10,000. 
(9.) Mortgage given to owner of property, at 4 per ~f- 
cent., $3,500. 

(10.) Property of the church and house turned over 
to the trustees of the church. 

(11.) Organized a Woman's Christian Temperance 
Union. 

(12.) Organized a Young People's Society of Chris- 
tian Endeavor. 

(13.) Opened a kindergarten school. 

(14.) Organized a Building and Loan Association, 
by which 43 homes have been secured. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



55 



(15.) Secured for a Church Home, a cottage by the 
sea. 

(16.) Organized a Bible Conference and Lecture 
Course at the Berean Cottage. 

(17.) Organized a Boys' Brigade. 

(18.) Raised ten thousand dollars on running ex- 
penses or in all, since the the organization of the church, 
over fifty thousand dollars including everything. 

With this showing can it be said that the Berean 
Church is a failure? 

When our books were audited the 24th of April 1888 
it was found there was still a debt of ten thousand one 
hundred and forty dollars and fifty-seven cents. Find- 
ing that there was still such a large amount we resolved 
to move forward and lift it at once, accordingly we 4- 
pledged all who subscribe $100 and upwards not to hold 
them to their pledges if the whole amount of the debt 
were not raised within one year from date, namely, the 
24th of April, 1889. 

One year to a day, from the time the account was 
audited, when we started to lift the debt, we had sub- 
scribed on our books ten thousand two hundred and 
twenty-five dollars; ninety-three dollars and forty-seven 
cents over and above the amount we set out to raise. 
And on the 24th of April, 1890, the whole amount was 
paid over and the debt cancelled, having raised in all 
from the 14th of May, 1881, twenty-eight thousand six 
hundred and ninety dollars and eighty cents. 

Having pledged ourselves and our friends that we 
would not dedicate the church until free from debt, the 
debt being now cancelled, on the 15th of June, 1890, 
the church was dedicated. 

Dedicatory Services, Sabbath, June 15, 1890. 

In the morning Rev. Robert McCheynne Hogue, of 
Philadelphia, preached, assisted by Rev. Reuben H. 



52 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



Armstrong, of Harrisburg, and Rev. E. J. Adams, of 
Philadelphia. 

In the afternoon at 2:30 the dedicatory sermon 
was preached by the Rev. William C. Cattell, D. D., 
Secretary of the Presbyterian Board of Relief, assisted 
by the Rev. John B. Reeve, D. D., pastor of the Lom- 
bard Street Central Presbyterian Church, short addresses 
were also delivered by Rev. R. H. Armstrong, Robert 
A. Edwards, D. D., rector of the church of St. Mathias, 
Philadelphia, Rev. W. H. Yeocum, D. D. Rev. Thomas, 
and Rev. H. L. Phillips, rector of the Church of Cruci- 
fixion. 

In the evening there were addresses by the Revs. H. C. 
McCook, D. D., of Philadelphia, William D. Robeson, 
of Princeton, N. J., Frank J. Potter, of Cotton Plant, 
Arkansas, and Mr. Robert C. Odgen, of the firm of John 
Wanamaker, Philadelphia. 

The meeting lasted over a week closing the following 
Sabbath, June the 22nd, with a sermon in the morning 
by Rev. William A. Lynch, of Newark, N. J., and at 
3:30 p. m., with a sermon by Rev. Charles 
Wood, Germantown, which was followed by short ad- 
dresses by Rev. William R. Templeton, of Reading, and 
Messrs. Roberts Patric. John McGill, Dr. Reuel Stewart 
and Joseph Clough. A 

In the evening an address was delivered by the pastor. 
Subject — The Berean Presbyterian Church and its Mis- 
sion. 

Short addresses were also delivered by Rev. Thos. H. 
Amos and Mr. Robert C. Odgen. 

The Duty of the Presbyterian Church Toward the 
Colored People and the Scope of the 
Berean Church. 

The above was the subject of the address delivered by 
Rev. Matthew Anderson on the occasion of the dedica- 
tion of the Berean Presbyterian Church after is was freed 
from debt, June 22nd, 1890, which was as follows: 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



53 



My Dear Friends: — 

It has been thought wise and proper that an oppor- 
tunity should be given those who have assisted in the 
establishment of this church, to see the results of their 
efforts and to learn more fully the nature and scope of 
the work. Therefore we have extended a most cordial 
invitation to all persons interested, and especially to 
you friend's who have assisted us all these years with 
your means, your counsels and your prayers to be pres- 
ent with us on this occasion. We have invited you here 
to rejoice with us over the completion of a work for 
which we have longed, hoped, labored, and prayed, 
and for which you have been repeatedly importuned to 
give of your means. 

For the last nine years the pastor of this church has 
devoted' his time almost wholly to the soliciting of funds 
for the purchase of a lot and the erection of a church. 
How well he has succeeded, this beautiful lot and build- 
ing may testify, and we are happy to report that every 
cent of money for the lot and church has been subscribed 
and paid in. It is true much larger amounts have 
been raised by pastors in a much shorter time, often in 
a few weeks or days, as was the case of one of our sister 
churches, where, we were told by one who knew, that 
sixty thousand dollars were subscribed on a single Sab- 
bath in response to an appeal from the pulpit by the 
pastor; or as in the case of another when fourteen thou- 
sand dollars were raised in a few days by the pastor for 
his Mission Church, and the whole amount, over thirty 
thousand dollars provided for in a few months. But my 
friends the conditions were entirely different. The pas- 
tors referred to were not preaching to and laboring 
among a poor and uninfluential people, neither had they 
prejudices against race and previous condition, with 
which to contend. When a colored man let him be min- 
ister or layman, goes to the community, asking for as- 
sistance for any charitable object whatever, he is looked 



54 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



upon generally as a mere beggar, an object of pity, and 
not unfrequently of contempt, and the cause which he 
represents, is regarded as unworthy of any thoughtful 
consideration, and consequently, if there is any response, 
it is in keeping^with the^estimation" in which he and his 
cause are held, a mere pittance, that which is given to 
all tramps and beggars as the easiest way of getting 
rid of a common nuisance, as well as a satisfier of the 
conscience which holds up to every man the duty of 
assisting his neighbor. 

Now while the pastor of the Berean Church has met 
with many striking exceptions to this rule, yet his exper- 
ience for the most part for the last nine years, and es- 
pecially for the first five, was strictly of the kind to which 
we have referred. For example, the subscriptions for 
the most part were quite small, at many places, there 
were given mere verbal promises of no definite amounts, 
which were seldom honored, while a large majority of 
the persons called upon showed no interest whatever 
in the person soliciting, or the cause he represented, and 
made him to understand by word or act, that they did 
not regard his cause as worthy of any serious thought or 
consideration, and therefore that they had nothing to 
give. Had it not been that the pastor was convinced 
of the worthiness of his cause, and the certainty of suc- 
cess ultimately, and the fact that every now and then, 
there was found one who saw the work as he saw it, and 
contributed accordingly, he would long since have given 
tip in despair. But from the first he was convinced that the 
church was needed, and that by persevering effort the 
required amount of money to pay for a lot and building 
could be secured ; therefore he kept steadily at it until the 
present, notwithstanding that it took him nine years to 
do what many could have done in a few months, weeks, 
or even days. 

But my friends the cherished object for which he 
longed, hoped labored and prayed all these years has 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



55 



been secured. This beautiful lot has been purchased and 
church erected, and paid for. It is ours. One stake 
having been reached, we are therefore prepared to review 
the past and plan for the future. 

Now in regard to the future permit me to give what 
in my judgment is the mission of the Berean Presby- 
terian Church. Let me say first, that my conception 
of the work of the Presbyterian Church among the 
colored people has not been changed from what 
I have always held, by anything I may have 
experienced in this city, but it has been only more 
deeply confirmed. The one thing above all others, 
which led me to choose the ministry in prefer- 
ence to any other profession was its comprehensive- 
ness. There was in it that which would tend to the 
development of the whole man, soul and body, more than 
any profession, consequently in my judgment a Christian 
minister would be in a condition to accomplish more 
for his fellow men than others. And since from my earl- 
iest childhood, I had been made to feel the wrongs of the 
slave and the thraldom which rested upon the colored 
people, free and slave, throughout this country, from 
anti-slavery books, papers and speeches which were be- 
ing daily read in my family, and the prayers which were 
offered up by my father, I most naturally, when called 
upon to choose a profession, chose that profession, in 
which I could accomplish the most for humanity and 
especially for my own people. 

Now from the conception of the Gospel ministry, 
which I hold, I could never believe, that the work of 
a Gospel minister was simply preaching, in the commonly 
accepted sense of that term, but that it included every- 
thing, which tended to the development of the whole 
man, intellectual, moral and spiritual ; and while preach- 
ing from the pulpit is necessary and absolutely essen- 
tial, yet he who confines his labors as a minister wholly 
to the pulpit is necessarily narrow and fails, in my judg- 



5 6 



PRESB YTERIA NISM, 



ment, positively to comprehend the full scope of the 
mission which he has chosen as his life calling. 

Therefore, when I entered upon my work in this city, 
especially when I started out with my subscription book 
to solicit funds, it was not to secure a church in which I 
might devote the balance of my days simply in the deliv- 
ery of sermons on the Sabbath, but a home for the peo- 
ple, where they could meet not only on the Sabbath, but 
at any time to receive instruction in whatever would tend 
to their elevation. 

I saw a people who for two hundred and fifty years 
had been driven and torn, bought and sold, treated more 
cruelly far, than ever the Israelites were by their Egyp- 
tian masters, and even now, notwithstanding they have 
enjoyed over twenty five years of freedom, being mem- 
bers of the state politic, yet are most shamefully 
wronged. In the South, they are shot down for the 
slightest provocation, deprived of their votes, cheated 
out of their honest earnings, while in the North they 
have closed against them nearly every avenue to skilled 
labor, although opened to every other class, to the ignor- 
ant Russian Jew as well as to the intelligent native me- 
chanic, to the foreigner who has the most absurd ideas 
of our institutions and government, and who is filled with 
communism and anarchy, as well as to the intelligent 
English, Scotch and German emigrant. A people who 
have been thus shamefully wronged, and who are yet far 
from having their just rights accorded, need more than 
sermons on the Sabbath. They need encouragement in 
everything that will tend to the development of true man 
and womanhood; they need help in the practical things 
of life. 

For example, he who has been always dependent, he 
who is ignorant of the most fundamental principles of 
knowledge must be taught these principles, and he who 
is careless must be taught exactness. Now I hold that 
a church which fails to provide for these practical wants 



ITS RELA TION TO THE NEGRO. 



57 



of its people fails to comprehend its true mission, not- 
withstanding it may be most faithful in its teaching of 
strictly spiritual things. Now if this be true of the 
church generally, much more is it true of those churches 
whose membership is composed principally of colored 
people. 

Therefore, we hold that the great mission of the Pres- 
byterian Church among the colored people, and conse- 
quently the Berean Church, is educational as well as 
moral and religious. The Berean Church must exert ati 
educational influence in this city if it would fill the full 
measure of its mission for which it is so admirably cal- 
culated. For example the central location of the church 
to the people in the Northwestern section of the city, 
being of easy access to all north of Market street, its 
lovely location and surroundings on South College 
avenue, being in front of one of the most famous Institu- 
tions of the kind in the world; its lovely lawn and sub- 
stantial and attractive building which are most admir- 
ably adapted to the various wants we have indicated; 
its connection with the Presbytery of Philadelphia Cen- 
tral from which it receives wholesome advice and coun- 
sel, as well as wisdom and strength; the prestige it has 
already achieved, and the estimation in which it is held 
by the people generally, prove beyond a question, that 
the mission of the church is far reaching and compre- 
hensive. 

But my friends while it will be the mission of the 
Berean Church to look after everything that pertains 
to the best interest of the people, its success numerically 
measured will not be rapid. There will be no eager 
rushing on the part of the people, from the various sec- 
tions of the city to attend its services. Men do not rush 
to places where they are made to think, where the knife, 
and the lance are employed as well as the oil. 



58 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



the balm, and the myrrh. The mass generally go where 
the fancy is tickled and where they can give vent to the 
mirthful and ridiculous. 

But while there will be no general movement on the 
part of the people toward the Berean Church, they will 
come, not en masse, but as individuals. The succcess 
of this church will consist in the prominence that will 
be given to the creative instead of the passive element in 
man. The chief aim of th Berean Church will be to 
cause men to act instead of being acted upon, to draw 
out the latent powers, which lie dormant within, in- 
stead of filling the mind with thoughts which will not 
be digested, and which will produce weaklings, instead 
of strong men, intellectual and spiritual activity and life 
instead of moral sickness and death. 

It will ever be the aim of the Berean Church to cause 
men and women to imbibe the spirit of the injunction, 
"Go ye into all the world and teach all nations," to get 
them if possible to be interested in the improvement of 
their neighbors, as well as their own individual improve- 
ment; to cause individual men not merely to look upon 
themselves as objects to be worked upon and fashioned 
into beings of grace and beauty, but also as the sculptors 
of their neighbors who are to be carved into the likeness 
of Him in whose name they are called. It is, and ever 
will be' the aim of this church to teach the indissoluble 
union between religion and morality, that one can not 
be a Christian, strictly speaking, who is an immoral man ; 
that a Christian is one who follows Christ inwardly as 
well as outwardly, with the heart as well as the lips, on 
the week day, as well as the Sabbath day, in the darkness 
as well as in the light. 

Ever since the organization of the church on the ioth 
of June, 1880, and especially during the last eight years 
the pastor's time has been occupied principally, in lay- 
ing foundations, in the devising of plans, and in the 
organization of societies for aggressive work for the 



ITS RELATIOA TO THE NEGRO. 



59 



future. During this period there was little time to try 
faithfully those methods usually employed to increase 
the membership of churches, and yet the active number 
of communicants over and above the loss by death, re- 
movals and otherwise, is more than double what it was 
at the organization. Seldom has there been a commu- 
nion season when additions have not been made to the 
membership, some of whom are as faithful and self 
sacrificing as can be found in any church. Some of 
these foundations, organizations, societies and plans 
which have been laid, instituted, formed and projected 
are familiar to most of you present, as your intelligent 
counsel and advice were from time to time solicited in 
regard to each. 

First among these is the church itself. There has been 
laid by the erection of this church a foundation upon 
which all the organizations and societies which have for 
their object the spiritual, moral and temporal improve- 
ment of the people can erect their temples. 

Secondly, the Eldership which is organized according 
to the rotary plan in three classes of three years each. 

Thirdly, the diaconate which is also organized accord- 
ing to the rotary plan and which admits only male mem- 
bers at present, but which we hope when the Presbyterial 
sky shall have cleared of the clouds arising from the 
recent discussion on the subject, that provision will be 
made for the introduction of female members as well. 

Fourthly, the Ladies' Aid Society which is composed 
wholly of ladies and which has for its object the raising 
of money to assist the board in meeting the current ex- 
penses of the church. 

Fifthly, The Loyal Legion' Band. This is a temper- 
ance association which is composed of boys and girls 
under the auspices of the Young Woman's Branch of 
the Woman's Temperance Union. 

Sixthly, The Do Good Society. This society is 
composed of little folks, the object of which is the en- 



6o 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



couragement of all such in the cultivation of habits of 
benevolence to do for others what they wish to have 
done for themselves, and thus generate a spirit of dis- 
interested regard and good will for each other which is 
so much needed among us as a people. 

These my friends are some of the societies which have 
been organized up to the present, every one of which has 
a special mission to perform. But these societies have 
not yet strictly speaking entered upon their mission. 
They have been organized but not animated; articu- 
lated but for the most part inactive. They need to 
have breathed into them the breath of life, to make 
them the living, moving, acting and aggressive instru- 
ments they are intended to be in the vineyard of the 
Master. They need the nurturing care, the tender sym- 
pathy, the kindly aid, and the sure support which can 
only be given by the strong, and which many of you 
present are so qualified to render. But in saying this 
we would not be understood to mean anything more 
than the words imply. The child that is tenderly nur- 
tured, cared for and encouraged developes no less into 
a strong, independent and forcible man or woman, than 
it would have done had there been no such care and 
attention given, and a church society, which receives aid 
and encouragement if properly rendered, will develope 
no less into a strong and independent organization than 
it would if this help had not been given. 

It is not to carry the Berean Church my friends, or 
any organization within it, we ask. What we want is 
simply that there be that fostering care which will en- 
able it to crawl, to stand alone, to walk, which a wise 
mother renders her child. Finally when healthy, and 
strong and thoroughly developed in all of its parts, 
and filled with mature wisdom and aggressive energy, 
this church shall enter upon the grand mission of life 
for which it was intended, and then moving forward with 
all of the dignity and intelligent bearing of a thoroughly 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



61 



organized and developed church, it shall impress its 
worth upon the community and upon the city and coun- 
try, then it will be enabled to do its part solving 
tha^ vexed problem, which is to-day so greatly absorb- 
ing the minds of the country and which is the theme of 
the principal speeches and the most eloquent orations 
of our greatest statesman and authors. 

I am of those, my friends who believe that the color 
of the skin, the shape of the head, the texture of the hair, 
or racial connections have nothing to do whatever with 
the intellectual, moral progress of any individual or asso- 
ciation, but where healthy influences have been brought 
to bear and careful instruction employed they would de- 
velop into strong and influential men and organizations 
and would fill their mission in life as wisely and as hon- 
orably as the most favored though they be of dusky hue, 
and of a race which is denominated, the despised. Up 
to the present time the pastor of the Berean Church has 
been necessarily obliged to carry the burden principally 
alone. The assistance which was rendered by you 
friends present, and especially the noble part rendered 
by our friend, Mr. McGill, we fully appreciate and shall 
never forget; for without this assistance there would 
have been no Berean Church and consequently no call 
for the devising of plans for a more extensive work 
in the future. 

But you will understand that the principal burden, 
that of gathering in and holding together his congre- 
gation and the soliciting of funds for the lot and build- 
ing devolved principally upon the pastor himself, and 
consequently, having devoted so much of his time to the 
secular part of the work he could not therefore carry on 
with equal success the spiritual. But the time has now 
come and fully come, when special attention must be 
given to the spiritual part of the work, or perhaps more 
properly to the instructing and developing of the intellec- 
tual, moral and spiritual forces in the church. The 



62 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



time has come when there must be put into operation the 
societies which have already been formed and thus by an 
active and healthy movement of all the machinery of the 
church to reach towards those great possibilities which 
lie invitingly before us and which by a diligent and faith- 
ful application of all the means at our command can 
be reached. 

The time has come my friends when the pastor of the 
Berean Church must prepare himself more carefully that 
he may wisely instruct the people. He should, keep 
abreast of the intelligent thought of the day in the dif- 
ferent departments of learning and thus exhibit in him- 
self that which he would have his church and his people 
become. For it must not be forgotten that this much- 
mooted Negro problem is to be solved by the Negro 
himself, and he is solving it notwithstanding all the 
blatant speeches which are being made by Southern 
demagogues and Northern sympathizers. 

On one occasion when a would-be learned ornith- 
ologist had criticised most unmercifully what he sup- 
posed to be the work of a taxidermist saying the wings 
were not properly adjusted, the head was out of all pro- 
portion to the body, while the eyes were wretched be- 
yond all description, that the owl in question, gave one 
of those significant winks, characteristic of his genus, 
thus casting at once all of his learned wisdom and criti- 
cism to the ground; so are the pet theories and learned 
criticisms on the Negro being daily cast to the ground, 
everywhere, throughout this country, by the Negro him- 
self. It is with the burden of this thought upon us that 
we feel the need of applying ourselves more closely to 
the great work of preaching and of teaching, than we 
have been permitted hitherto to do. We want every 
available means employed both by the pulpit and the 
pew, which will tend to lift the intellectual, moral and 
religious standard of the people. 



CHAPTER VI. 



First. Advantages of the Berean Presbyterian Church. 

We would not be true to ourselves and our friends 
if before leaving this subject we did not speak of the ad- 
vantages of the Berean Presbyterian Church. 

In the first place the church is very excellently 
located. While there may not be many colored people 
on South College avenue, yet in the immediate vicinity 
there is a large and growing population. Within a ra- 
dius of six squares of the church there are hundreds 
of colored people, and within three squares, there are 
five small streets crowded with them. 
Let me particularize, commence at Spring Garden street, 
which is only seven squares from the church, and walk 
north and there will be found Brandywine street, Spring- 
ett, West, Capitol, Matlock, Grove, Scott, Cambridge, 
Edwin, Erdman, Geary, Hedding, Markham, Becket, 
Olive, Grayson and Barkley, in all seventeen streets, 
every one of which, is largely represented by colored 
people while a number have no other occupants. Now 
all of these seventeen streets are situated south of the 
Berean Church, between Spring Garden and Girard 
avenue, and Broad and Twenty-first streets, while no 
one of them is more than five squares from the church. 

Now commence at Montgomery avenue, and go south 
and there will be met Beechwood, Norwood, Wood- 
stock, Turner, Rednor, Bolton, Wright, Sharswood, 
Sybert, Thompson, Walter, Bananna, Cabot and Carlisle 
streets, in all fourteen streets, all of which are occupied 
by colored people, while a number are crowded with 
them as Wright, Beechwood and Norwood, and no 
one is more than seven squares from the Berean Church. 
Hence we find that there are thirty-one streets within a 

63 



64 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



radius of six squares of the Berean Church all of which 
are largely occupied by colored people. 

Now in the district which is occupied by these streets 
there is but one colored church, the Union A. M. E., be- 
sides the Berean, and it is located over five squares to 
the southeast of the latter ; besides the colored people on 
the streets named, colored families may be found in this 
same district on many of the principal streets, which if 
brought together, would make no inconsiderable num- 
ber. Hence it is seen that the Berean Church is most 
wisely located, since there is such a large class of 
people, from which to draw. 

And yet we have only mentioned the streets which are 
on the one side of our field, those west of Broad street, 
and north of Spring Garden, should we go to the east of 
Broad street, between Twelfth, and Spring Garden and 
Montgomery avenue, we would find nearly as many 
more streets, and as thickly inhabited by colored people. 
And should we go further south, between Spring Garden 
and Market and Twelfth and Twenty-first streets, there 
would be found many streets, occupied by colored peo- 
ple, some of them crowded, as Pearl and Carlton. In 
these last two districts there are three colored churches, 
Zoar M. E., Zion Baptist and Ebenezer Baptist, which 
together have a seating capacity of not more than fifteen 
hundred, while there are in these last two sections alone 
not less than three thousand colored people. But it is 
asked, if there are as many colored people within the 
vicinity of the church as is claimed, should it not have 
a greater following? In reply we would say that unfor- 
tunately the Negro has a nature not unlike other people. 
Naturally he is a sinner and not a saint, and needs 
grace to have his attention turned to spiritual things. 

The great bulk of the colored people in the north- 
western part of the city are in a very low spiritual state, 
hence, to have them attend church, they need to have 
something more powerful to draw them than a hand- 



the; parsonage of the; berean presbyterian church. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



65 



some building and an attractive place of worship. They 
need the personal oversight and constant attention of a 
minister and, more especially, the out pouring of the 
spirit of God. Situated as the pastor of the Berean 
Church has been all these years it was impossible for 
him to give the people his undivided attention, hence one 
reason why there has not been any greater following. 
But we read that the Lord himself could do no great 
works in Capernaum and yet he was not soliciting to 
build a church for them either. We have no 
doubt whatever in the ultimate success of the 
church, just as soon as the pastor will be 
able to give himself to the work of gathering 
in the people as enthusiastically as he has been obliged 
to do in building up the ' temporal affairs, the tide will 
be turned. This time we hope has about come. 

Second. The Buildings are Beautiful. 

Another advantage of the Berean Church is that both 
church and parsonage are beautiful. They are not only 
well appointed but attractive in appearance. We know 
that there are some well meaning people, who say that 
for a people who are poor, and for the most part, de- 
pendent and ignorant, that only plain, cheap church 
buildings and parsonages should be erected, and that, 
too, in their immediate neighborhood, even if that neigh- 
borhood would be in the slums. And we are sorry to 
say that some ministers of the Gospel are the most 
pronounced in this position. Several years since, the 
writer was most grossly insulted by being virtually order- 
ed out when he called upon a prominent minister (of this 
city) for sympathy and aid in his death struggle to pay 
off the debt on the Berean Church property, simply 
because of the character of the grounds and buildings. 
In this distinguished brother's estimation it was an out- 
rage to put up such a place for poor colored people. 
He declared emphatically that he would do nothing 
5 



66 



PRESB YTERIA NISM % 



whatever to aid it, that he had no time to talk, at the 
same time opened the door for him to go. 

In reply we would say that the Negro is so used to 
this argument that he is never surprised when he hears 
it. There are those who damn the Negro, because he is 
down, and who damn him when he attempts to rise. It 
was Judas who bemoaned the waste of spikenard and his 
spirit is not dead yet. The Berean Church is this waste 
of spikenard. But it is a waste that is cheering the 
spirit and encouraging the hopes of a struggling peo- 
ple. What the Negro needs is to forget the past and 
look to the future especially if the looking back over 
his past history in his present condition will only tend to 
discourage him in his efforts to rise. Hence everything 
that is done for him that tends to remove from his soul 
the badges of the slavery through which he has passed 
and from which he is still suffering is an incalculable 
blessing. 

This is what the Berean Church is doing. There is 
nothing about it which is in any way to the Negro a 
reminder of his past degradation, nor any thing to make 
him feel that he is an inferior, hence despised and cir- 
cumscribed, and therefore that only so far he can go and 
no further. It is the one place he can come and breathe 
the pure invigorating atmosphere of a noble manhood 
and receive renewed strength and inspiration for the 
future. It was because of the belief that it would inspire 
the manhood and hopes of the people that the noble 
friends of the church were actuated to give as liberally 
toward the enterprise as they did. 

At a meeting in the North Broad Street Presbyter- 
ian Church which had been called to consider the 
purchase of a lot and the erection of a church for the 
colored people in the northwestern part of the city, the 
friend who has done more for the church than any other 
in reply to one who thought a very cheap building on 
one of the back streets would suffice said, that he hoped 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



67 



if there would be any concerted action to put up a church 
for the colored people, that they would agree to put 
up a building that would be an inspiration to the people 
and a credit to themselves, and if he had anything to. 
do with it he would want to see a building put up, which, 
if it had been put up for any of them, they would not be 
ashamed to worship in it. 

This was the spirit which actuated this friend long 
before there had been a dollar secured for the Berean 
Church, and it is the spirit which has actuated him in all 
of his labors of love in connection with this church from 
that time to the present. Could the Presbyterian 
Church but learn wisdom from our Catholic friends it 
would most radically change its method of building 
churches and institutions for the poor. 

The Catholic Church in this country is largely made 
up of the emigrant class, principally emigrants from 
Ireland, most of whom when they reach these shores are 
poor, ignorant and superstitious and yet the churches 
which are put up for them are among the finest in the 
country, many of them being marvels of architectural 
beauty and as a result this Church, the criticisms to the 
contrary not withstanding, is moving forward as a 
mighty host with shields and banners. 

Let the Presbyterian Church make the Negro feel 
that he is wanted, and not merely tolerated, let it throw 
away its patriotism and receive him as a friend and 
brother and it will have in him a staunch friend and de- 
fender, one who will unbare his bronzed bosom to the 
foes of right and truth. 

Third. Thoroughly Acquainted with Fiedd. 

Another advantage, the Pastor is thoroughly acquaint- 
ed with his field and this we consider to be a very great 
advantage to any church. 

To be thoroughly acquainted with the lay of the field, 
the people, the strategic points and the possibilities of 



68 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



success gives the vantage ground to any enterprise let it 
be secular or religious. It is the inward sense that we 
know the field and what can be brought out of it that 
gives us the confidence of success though the congre- 
gations are at present small and that on the face the 
work may to some look discouraging. 

But to those who are thoroughly acquainted wlith the 
facts there is no doubt about the ultimate success of the 
Berean Church. 

While we do not wish to take one iota of 
credit to ourselves of the work which was done by the 
dear friends who stood by us in the work of the Berean 
Church all these years, yet we are sure we will be doing 
them a kindness if we set both their assistance and our 
endeavor in the true light before the community. We are 
frank to admit that there would be no Berean Church 
if it had not been for the assistance rendered by these 
friends, but we also say that that assistance would not 
have been given if it had not been solicited by the pas- 
tor of the church. And we say further, that with the 
exception of one or two friends the entire amount given 
by the individual friends was not received at one solicita- 
tion, nor two, nor three, but in many instances it was 
after the fiftieth solicitation before there was secured the 
entire amounts which stand on our books to their credit, 
and this was done not that we had any liking for solicit- 
ing but because it was absolutely necessary. 

The lot had been purchased, the church built, and 
the parsonage erected and they had to be paid for. 
The money had been paid by our Friend and we would 
have been untrue to him, untrue to ourselves, untrue to 
the people in whose interest we were laboring, untrue to 
the Presbyterian church and untrue to our God if we had 
not used every endeavor to secure the money which 
he had so generously advanced and reimbursed him. 
Therefore while engaged in this work it was utterly im- 
possible to do the missionary and spiritual part, espec- 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



69 



ially as it ought to be done. For while thus engaged 
every energy of our being, heart, soul, and body were 
brought into requisition. 

Indeed, the mental strain and anguish of heart we 
underwent during these years of severe trial we have not 
the power to describe. For it consisted not merely in 
the effort to raise the money but in the keeping a per- 
fect equipoise, if it can be so expressed between the 
friends who had the means to give and those who needed 
assistance; on the one hand — to have the friends see 
that the church was needed — on the other to convince 
the people that they were wanted to come into the 
church. On the one hand the friends had to be con- 
vinced that we would be successful in raising the money 
to pay for the church and that the enterprise would 
be a success, on the other hand the people needed to be 
assured that when the church was purchased it would 
belong to them and not that they would simply be toler- 
ated to use it. 

It must be remembered that the work had been wholly 
untried, the field was new, the people had had but little 
experience in church work, and absolutely none in 
Presbyterianism, and being poor and taught to look 
with misgivings upon our church it required the great- 
est care and wisdom to convince them that we were 
working wholly and unselfishly in their interest. But 
do what we would, talk as we might, work as faith- 
fully as we could, there were those Who mistrusted our 
every action, and indeed, on the part of some at least 
it seemed that this mistrust increased in proportion as we 
neared the consummation of our efforts; while there 
were others convinced of our sincerity who advised to 
throw up the work because of the ungratefulness of the 
people. 

But to have acted upon their advice we would have 
been recreant in our trust to those friends whom we had 
induced to contribute to the enterprise, and especially 



7o 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



to that Friend whose valuable counsel and liberality 
was making it possible for us to accomplish the object 
we had in view. Then there were those from whom we 
had reason to expect better things because of their 
superior intelligence and advantages who criticised most 
uncharitably our every effort and the work in general. 
It was from this class when called upon for assistance 
we received the most bitter insults and Who seemed to 
take special delight in wounding our feelings. 

It was here that the work was most crushing, yea 
these experiences were as daggers thrust to our heart, 
the pangs of which we had to bear without a murmur. 
We had to hear the misgivings and fault findings of the 
people among whom we were laboring, the bitter criti- 
cisms of those who felt that too much was being done 
for the Negro, and go on soliciting from our friends as 
if everything was going on perfectly smooth, and that 
every person was thoroughly interested in our work. 
With such an experience as this is it to be wondered 
at that we had not the time much less the heart to work 
in the spiritual part of the church. 

Fourth. The Church Will in Time Become Self Sustaining. 

Another advantage to the Berean Church is the pros- 
pect of its becoming self-sustaining. It is an infant 
yet, it is true, but it is an infant of healthy growth. It 
has neither the rickets nor croup. But as an infant, 
for the time being it must be treated as such. It must 
be taught to crawl, stand, and walk and run, in their 
regular order just as every infant. It must be fed upon 
infant food, and not upon the strong meat of the grown 
man, because its digestive apparatus is not sufficiently 
strong to bear it. 

But we are happy to say that Berean Church as such 
has gotten beyond the period of crawling, and standing, 
she is commencing to step and walk, and from its spright- 
ly look and the earnest efforts it is putting forth we are 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



7i 



sure, it will in time run and leap; and will take on all 
the vigor and life of an active, healthy and happy 
youth; and that finally it will reach the period of a well 
rounded out and honored majority, when it will take 
the place which it will have carved out for itself in the 
vineyard of the Master. 

But before the Berean Church will have reached this 
position there is much to be done both by the pastor and 
people. 

In the first place, the different works are to be taken 
up. The people are to be studied, their dispositions, 
temperaments and tendencies, and each be put to doing 
the work for which he or she has a natural fitness, and 
consequently where they will accomplish the most for 
Christ and humanity. 

The people are also to be taught the duty of giving, not 
spasmodically, but systematically, and according to their 
means, not from a selfish interest, but from a sense of 
duty as fellow Christians and brethren of the Lord Jesus. 
They are also to be taught the Christian graces and 
doctrines which carry with them everything that goes to 
make up a full symmetrical man or woman as taught in 
His Word. Such a work as this could not be accom- 
plished in a day. It could not possibly have been done 
while we were engaged in the other work. It must not be 
forgotten also that while there are plenty of people in 
this section of the city, from which the Berean Church 
can draw, yet they are for the most part poor, most of 
them very poor, therefore it would be sometime before 
they would be able to support the church. 

Take the present congregation of the Berean Church 
for example, there is not more than one man 
who commands more than eight dollars a week 
and some of them have to support families 
on this. Mr. Porter, an elder of the church, a carpen- 
ter by trade, but whose color excludes him from the 
trades union, drives a team for seven dollars a week and 



72 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



boards himself and also supports his family. Many of 
the young men work from three to five dollars a week 
and board themselves. The class who are the best able 
to assist the church financially, are the girls who live at 
service, for they get wages from two and a half to four 
dollars a week and their room and board. With these 
facts it can be readily seen that unless there was a large 
following, no church could be self-sustaining, where the 
people have such little ability to give. Nothing would 
delight the pastor of the Berean Church more than to 
see the church self-sustaining, but he feels to attempt to 
make it so in its present straightened condition would 
be a most serious detriment to the work, if not suicidal. 

The following is an extract from the report which we 
gave to the Presbytery of Philadelphia through the 
Church Extension Committee. 

Extract From Report to Presbytery Through the 
Church Extension Committee. 

"We would suggest that steps be taken by the Presby- 
tery to secure the pastor of the Berean Church a suffi- 
cient salary upon which to live wholly independent of 
the people of his charge and thus enable him to give his 
entire energies, time, strength and talents to the work so 
as to be able to bring the church up to that ideal strength, 
which has been planned, and which he and his friends 
so much desire to see accomplished. We feel that this 
should be done both in justice to him and the people 
and for the advancement of Presbyterianism among the 
colored people in the city of Philadelphia and the coun- 
try at large. 

"The committee, we are sure could not put the 
Church's money where it would yield richer fruits for 
Christ and the Presbytery of Philadelphia ; and then, too, 
it would be in keeping with the committee's oft repeated 
idea of church extension, which is to take hold of a 
strategic point, put up a good substantial church build- 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



73 



ing and stand by the organization until the church is 
thoroughly established. The Committee's argument all 
along has been that it is better to give largely, say ten, 
twenty or thirty thousand dollars towards a church that 
is commandingly situated and which has a promising 
future and thus, establish it upon a solid basis, than to or- 
ganize a dozen churches annually which will never 
grow into strong and aggressive organizations . Acting 
upon this plan the committee has taken hold of several 
prominent churches which were carrying heavy debts, 
and paid off their indebtedness or largely so, and thus 
placed them in an independent and prosperous condition. 

"But no such assistance was given to the Berean 
Church. The Church Extension Committee did not re- 
lieve the pastor of the Berean Church from all respon- 
sibility and assume the debt themselves, and thus en- 
able him to devote his time wholly to the spiritual in- 
terest of the church which was so much needed. Its 
debt if paid at all had to be paid wholly by money raised 
by his personal solicitations, even the amount secured 
from the churches, during the ten years in paying off 
the debt by public collections, which amounted to only 
a little over a ($1,000) thousand dollars, was secured 
through and by his efforts. 

"Now since neither the Old Presbytery of Philadelphia 
Central, under whose auspices the Berean Church was 
organized, nor the Presbytery of Philadelphia, of which 
it is now a member, nor its Committee on Church Ex- 
tension, assumed the debt of the enterprise, but left it 
wholly to the Pastor to carry, we feel that in justice to 
him and for its own credit the committee ought to as- 
sume his salary and not suffer him, after all he has ac- 
complished for the Presbytery to be embarrassed with 
personal debt, because of not having sufficient upon 
which to live. Give him a living chance, untie his hands, 
release him from personal embarrassment and he will 
do a work with God's blessing, among the colored peo- 



74 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



pie in the city of Philadelphia, which will do as much if 
not more to encourage the missionary efforts of the 
Presbytery than anything it has undertaken for 
years. For there is no more hopeful missionary field in 
all the city than that among the colored people, and yet 
it is a field which is largely neglected. There are in the 
city of Philadelphia over fifty thousand colored people, 
and they are steadily increasing every year, large ac- 
cessions being made to their number annually from the 
South. 

"In this large colored population there should be at 
least a dozen Presbyterian Churches and missions where- 
as there are but three churches and no missions, viz-: 
The First African Presbyterian Church, 17th and Fitz- 
water street, the oldest ; the Lombard Street Central Pres- 
byterian Church, Lombard street below Ninth, and the 
Berean, which have a combined seating capacity of not 
more than fifteen hundred, while the entire church ac- 
commodation for the colored people of the city of 
Philadelphia, including all denominations is not more 
than twenty-one thousand two hundred. For example 
the fifteen churches and missions of the African Metho- 
dist Episcopal church have a combined seating capacity 
of not more than six thousand seven hundred. The 
twelve churches of the Baptist denomination have 
a combined seating capacity of four thousand five 
hundred. The six churches and missions of 
the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church 
have a seating capacity of not more than two 
thousand and seven hundred. The six churches and 
missions of the Methodist Episcopal Church have a 
seating capacity of not more than two thousand six hun- 
dred. The four churches and missions of the Episcopal 
Church have a seating capacity of not more than one 
thousand five hundred. The two places of the Catholic 
worship have a seating capacity of eight hundred, and 
the three Presbyterian Churches, a capacity of not more 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



75 



than fifteen hundred. In other words the forty eight 
colored churches and missions in the city of Philadelphia 
have a seating capacity of not more than twenty-one 
thousand two hundred. While the colored population 
is upwards of sixty thousand. Thus showing that only 
one-third of the people have church accommodations. 

"If these statements are correct and we are sure they 
can be verified, what an opportunity it is for the Pres- 
bytery of Philadelphia, to do a grand and noble work for 
God and humanity. 

"Why not make the Berean Church the fulcrum by 
which the non-church going class of colored people 
in Philadelphia will be lifted into the Presbyterian 
Church, especially those north of Market street? We 
have ample grounds, and an excellent church building en- 
tirely clear of debt which will" meet all present demands. 
Why should not the committee centralize its influ- 
ence and aid here, and make out of this place a mighty 
power? This is the thought which the pastor of the 
church has kept steadily before him during all his years 
of labor. He believed that the time would come when 
the Presbytery and the friends would see the wisdom 
of taking an active interest in the Berean Church and 
assist him to develop the work along the different lines 
which he has started, and which are so greatly needed, 
in order to raise the standard of the colored people 
of Phiadelphia, in particular, and of the country in 
general. For it is an unquestionable fact that if the 
Berean Church was made a grand success along the 
different lines of work which have been begun, and 
others contingent upon these which should be started 
its influence for good would be extended throughout 
the entire country, and it would greatly encourage the 
Missionary work which the Presbyterian Church is 
carrying on among the colored people, not only in the 
North, but also in the South. Therefore to take hold of 
the Berean Church and give it means to develope its 



7 6 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



work would be, in our judgment, the wisest course for 
the committee and a paying investment of its funds." 

One reason I know for the feeling on the part of 
some, who don't know the facts, that the church ought 
to be self-sustaining, is the elaborate appearance of the 
place, the grounds, the buildings, the surroundings, 
the kempt manner in which everything is kept, all give 
the impression that the congregation that worships in the 
Berean Church, is well provided with this world's goods. 
They never think for a moment that they are all poor 
people, and even when they are assured of the fact, 
they conclude that there are those who are back of the 
church who are furnishing it with the necessary finan- 
ces. They say, and believe, that these persons have 
made the Berean Church their pet enterprise, and that 
they, therefore should see to its support. If those who 
speak thus only knew how greatly they are wounding 
the feelings and dampening the ardor of some of the 
most devoted friends of Christ and the Presbyterian 
Church, men and women whose hearts are wide open 
to every call of the church for help, they would never 
suffer themselves again to be the authors of such re- 
marks. It never occurs to them, that some of the friends 
to whom they make this criticism, if it can be 
called a criticism have done much to encourage 
the pastor in his work. For he has made it 
an inviolable rule never to parade the names of 
friends who assisted him in his work. The 
motive which actuated the friends to give to- 
wards the building of the Berean Church, and the 
paying off the debt on the same, and especially of those 
who have done the most to assist in the work, was 
most unselfish. There was but one thought which 
prompted them to give, and that was the v hope of the 
betterment of the condition of the colored people of 
the city, who were being most woefully neglected by 
the church, and imposed upon by a vicious public senti- 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



77 



ment. And especially is this true of those who have 
done the most for the enterprise, and who are the most 
interested in its success. Never have men and women 
given more unselfishly to the cause of Christ than these. 
Hand and strength, heart and mind, time and energy 
were employed in a way that was most surprising but 
beautiful to witness. Never have we seen such exhibi- 
tions of Christian charity, and that too by some men 
who made no profession of Christianity. Indeed the pas- 
tor of the church was treated by some of these men more 
like a Christian and a brother than he was by many 
who are most loud in their religious profession. Two 
gentlemen particularly, who stand high in the commer- 
cial world and whose names are known to all classes 
in the community have been most friendly. These gen- 
tlemen have never given him an insulting word but 
were ever ready to shake him heartily by the hand, 
speak a cheerful word or assist him financially in his 
work when he was standing the most in need. On 
one occasion one of these gentlemen sent for him and sub- 
scribed five hundred dollars towards the debt on his 
church building, remarking that he had been requested 
to contribute five hundred dollars towards another 
church, but as the odds were against Berean, he con- 
cluded to give his five hundred dollars where it was the 
most needed. 

It is this spirit of rightful discrimination, and kindly 
feeling on the part of the few friends who have felt a 
personal interest in the Berean Church and who have 
continued steadily to do so all these years which so 
cheered the pastor in all his arduous labors, and enabled 
him to press forward under the most discouraging cir- 
cumstances. Especially is this true of him who, we are 
free to admit without the fear of offense to any of the 
friends, did more to encourage us and to establish the 
Berean Church than any other friend, yes when there 
is taken into consideration everything which he was to 



73 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



the enterprise, counsellor, benefactor, friend he has been 
more to the Berean enterprise than all the other friends 
together, and this he has been not that he wished to 
monopolize honor, usurp power, or to secure the praise 
and applause of the city but simply because of his great 
welling heart of disinterested love, and philanthropy to- 
ward mankind in general, and the poor in particular. 
And being affected by the condition of the colored peo- 
ple in the city of Philadelphia as above described, he 
resolved to do what he could to assist in improving 
their condition. 

Fifth. The Colored People are Taking 
to Presbyterianism. 

Another advantage to the Berean Church in particular 
and the Presbyterian Church in general is that the 
colored people are taking to Presbyterianism, and that 
the money expended to carry on missionary work among 
them has been wisely and profitably spent. It is true 
at the present time the great majority of the colored 
people are in the Methodist and Baptist Churches, and 
that some think that they cannot be anything else, that 
every attempt to make them Presbyterians is a failure. 
Those who make this assertion only expose their ignor- 
ance of the facts, and at the same time make use of a 
two edged sword. Now what are the facts? In the 
first place the Berean Church which is one of the young- 
est of the clrureh organizations among the colored peo- 
ple in the city of Philadelphia, is growing gradually into 
strength and effectiveness and m love and sympathy 
with the people irrespective of denomination. 

It is filling a place in the city of Philadelphia which 
is needed, and the people are seeing and admitting it. 
Many of the staunchest friends it has are in the colored 
Methodist and Baptist Churches, and no people would 
be more sorry than the brethren of these churches for 
the Berean Church to fail. Then again it has only been 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



79 



since the close of the late war that any special attempt 
has been made by the Presbyterian Church to do mis- 
sion work among the colored people, except in New 
York and Philadelphia. Before the war Presbyterian 
slave holders admitted their slaves to the galleries of 
their churches but there was no attempt to organize them 
into churches. And yet in this short period of active mis- 
sionary work there are over twenty thousand com- 
municants connected with the Presbyterian Church, and 
a following directly and indirectly of not less than one 
hundred thousand, we think that this looks as if the 
colored people are taking to the Presbyterian Church. 

Again we hold that the Presbyterian Church is needed 
by the Negro to give him strength of character and fix- 
edness of purpose, necessary to enable him to fill well 
and honorably his position in life. 

Now if the argument is true which is advanced by 
some, and we are happy to say that the number who 
use it is growing gradually less, viz., that the colored 
people are not adapted to the Presbyterian Church, then 
we claim that the Presbyterian Church is not adapted 
to the colored people, and if the Presbyterian church is 
not adapted to the colored people, it is not 
entitled to the fellowship, and the support of 
Christian people. The church which is not adapt- 
ed to all people — be they white or black, be they 
Hindoos or Pagan has not in it the inherent princi- 
ples of the church of Jesus Christ, hence it is not Chris- 
tian. 

But we believe nothing of the kind in regard to the 
Presbyterian Church, we believe that this Church is of 
Christ's planting. 

It is not the Presbyterian Church that is wrong, but 
the many false teachers and prophets who are in it. 
But these were also in the church at the time of Christ, 
and he pronounced upon them his bitterest maledic- 
tions. 



So 



PXESB J 'TEA/A.YfSAr. 



The fact is that the belief in the want of adaptability 
to the Presbyterian Church on the part of the colored 
people, has become so fixed in the minds of many good 
people who never have been led to see the fallacy of the 
argument, that it influences not only all their actions to- 
wards the work of the Presbyterian Church among* the 
colored people, but also the minds of the colored peo- 
ple themselves, towards the Presbyterian Church. 

Let this fallacious belief become prevalent, that the 
Presbyterian Church is not adapted to the colored peo- 
ple, and the churches will not give liberally towards mis- 
sionary work, which the Presbyteries are carrying on 
among them; while on the other hand the colored peo- 
ple will take no hearty interest in a denomination which 
holds such a belief. This is one reason why so many 
otherwise good Presbyterians are utterly indifferent, 
as to where, when, how, and to whom they contribute, 
when they give towards colored work. They would 
just as soon and sooner give to Methodist and Bap- 
tist enterprises among the colored people than to Pres- 
byterians and consequently they assist in bringing about 
the very results which are predicted in regard to the 
colored Presbyterian Quirches. "I am not so wedded 
to the Presbyterian Church as to give my money to- 
wards missionary work among a people which can bet- 
ter be carried on by some other church," said a rising 
Presbyterian clergyman, of the city of Philadelphia, to 
the pastor of the Berean church who had called upon 
him for assistance. This brother expressed openly 
what hundreds and thousands of Presbyterian ministers 
and elders, sessions and ordinary church members are 
expressing secretly, in acts all over the land, and yet the 
question is asked. "Is the Presbyterian Church adapted 
to the colored people?" Never were the oracles of 
Delphi more adroitly fulfilled by her priests, than are 
those of Presbyterians in regard to the work of the 
church among the colored people. 

Presbyterian ministers and elders are often engaged 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



8l 



in manufacturing the clubs by which the earnest, strug- 
gling Missionary is being clubbed who is laboring under 
the most embarrassing circumstances to build up the 
work of the church among the colored people. And 
yet notwithstanding all the criticisms and oppositions 
both on the part of enemies and weak friends the colored 
people are coming into the Presbyterian Church so that 
they are becoming a mighty army with banners. Every 
year a number of Presbyterian Churches are organized 
among the colored people aside from those organized in 
the South, and the progress made by these churches is 
commensurate with that made by the same class of 
churches organized among the whites. 

One thing is certain that unless the Presbyterian 
Church takes a greater interest in the colored people 
she will lose her opportunity. We have shown that the 
Presbyteries of the city of Philadelphia had not organ- 
ized a church among the colored people until the Be- 
rean for nearly forty years, and not one since the organ- 
ization of the Berean. The Presbytery of Philadelphia 
North, so far as we have been able to learn, has never 
organized a church among the colored people on its 
field since it has been a Presbytery. The Presbytery of 
Philadelphia Central, had not organized any work 
among the colored people in its field, until it organized 
the Berean Church in 1880. The Old Presbytery of 
Philadelphia, organized only three colored Presbyterian 
Churches in its history, of nearly one hundred years, 
namely, the first African Presbyterian Church in 1806, 
the Second African Presbyterian Church in 1824, and 
The Lombard Street Central Presbyterian Church in 
1844, where the Presbytery of Philadelphia, the Union 
of the Presbytery of Philadelphia Central and the old 
Presbytery of Philadelphia has not up to the present 
time organized any work among the colored people 
in its field in which there is a population of over fifty 
thousand, not more than one-half of whom have church 
facilities." 
6 



CHAPTER VII. 



Shall the Protestant or the Catholic Church Occupy 
the Field Among the Colored People? 

Now just as certain as the Protestant Church does 
not arise and occupy this field among the colored peo- 
ple which is ripe for the harvest, and particularly the 
Presbyterian Church, they will lose their opportunity. 
For the Catholic Church is putting forth extraordinary 
means to possess this field and they are meeting with 
most signal success in their efforts. 

In the city of Philadelphia one of the old land marks, 
the Old Fourth Presbyterian Church at the corner of 
1 2th and Lombard streets, has gone out of the hands of 
the Presbytery into the hands of the Catholic Church in 
which there was organized some five or six years ago a 
colored Catholic Church. This church since has been 
handsomely remodeled and fitted up, and every Sabbath 
there assembles in it a large congregation of colored 
people. On the adjoining lot South of the Church 
on Twelfth street, there is a very attractive 
parish building which is drawing the chil- 
dren in large numbers. They have also a fine 
orphanage for girls along the Pennsylvania Railroad 
between this city and Trenton in which they have 
a large number of colored children, many of them 
from Protestant families, and a number of them 
from Presbyterian families to my personal knowl- 
edge, several of them being from families in Dr. 
Reeve's Church, because of their being refused admit- 
tance at the Presbyterian Orphanage. With these facts 
staring us in the face think you my brethren that the 
Presbytery of Philadelphia is awake to its duty towards 
the colored people in this great city of ours, the City of 
Brotherly love? 
82 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



83 



Think you that these neglected thousands who are 
ignored by our church because God has been pleased to 
clothe them in a livery of black, will not reach out and 
take hold of the olive branch though it be extended to 
them by a Catholic hand? Think you by this shirking 
of duty in regard to this people that you will get rid of 
a responsibility which has been laid upon you, not mere- 
ly by the Presbytery, nor by the church at large, but 
by the past history of this country in which you and 
they played a most intimate and important part, and by 
your God who is no respecter of persons who control 
the affairs and destinies of men? Remember that, 
"God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth that 
shall he also reap." These neglected thousands in Phil- 
adelphia, and millions in this land if not taken hold of 
by the Protestant Church will be taken hold of by the 
Catholic. 

The Success of the Catholic Church Among the 
Colored People of the United States. 

How successful the Catholic Church has been in its 
efforts to secure the colored people of this country, 
their report in the Catholic Review shows as given in 
the Outlook for September, 1896. The Catholic review 
of New York gives the number of colored Catholics 
in several of the large cities as follows: Baltimore 
35,000, Charleston 800, Chicago 400, Covington 140, 
Galveston 550, Indian Territory 200, Kansas City 250, 
Little Rock 100, Mobile 2,500, Nashville 500, Natchez 
1,700, Natchitoches 9,000, New Orleans 8,000, New 
York, 3,000, Philadelphia 1,500, Pittsburg 1,500, Sava- 
nah 1,200, San Antonio 1,200 and Washington, D. C, 
400." In all 67,800. 

In addition to this there are 3,100 priests laboring 
in the United States and there are thirty seven churches 
which have been erected by colored Catholics. These 
figures speak volumes. They show that unless the 



3 4 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



Presbyterian Church seizes the opportunity and takes 
hold of the colored people they will go over to the 
Church of Rome. And when there is observed the kind 
manner in which the Negro is received by the Catholics, 
the obliteration of the colored line, there being no ap- 
pearance of patronism, but white and black, rich and 
poor, educated and ignorant, meet in their churches on 
one common platform, and bow as common sinners 
before the same shrine, it is not to be wondered at, 
that they are induced to go into the Catholic Church, 
especially when there is considered the cold and indiffer- 
ent manner in which they are regarded by many in the 
Protestant Church. 

The tenets of the Catholics may be wrong, but they 
far outgeneral the Protestants in their methods of get- 
ting hold of the poor and ignorant. 

The Reasons Why the Catholic Church Succeeds 
Among the Colored People. 

The superior generalship of the Catholics is seen in 
this city, particularly in their work among the 
colored people. Ten years ago there was not a church 
among them that had been set apart for work 
among the colored people,^ and I know that 
this is not counting the children. Now why 
is this? It is the result of the catholicity 
of spirit which is exhibited. Take the church 12th and 
Lombard Streets, Philadelphia, all Catholics who 
live within the bounds of this church worship there, 
whether they are white or black, and they meet 
on one common level, when they cross the threshold, 
no matter what their social condition otherwise might 
be. 

This is what the poor man loves, it is what the Negro 
loves. Yes, this is what the honest conscience approves 
whether it reigns in the bosom of the rich or 
poor. The Catholic fathers are wise enough to see 
this, and shrewd enough to put it into actual practice. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



8S 



Another reason for their success in Philadelphia is 
the great interest they take in the children. Once a 
year every child connected with the school 12th and 
Lombard streets, is given a new suit of clothes, and 
clad in it he joins the children of the other Catholic 
schools of the city, in a grand parade in honor of some 
noted event in the history of the church. We may not 
approve of this method of getting children for the Sab- 
bath School, yet we can readily see the effect it would 
have upon the children, especially upon those who are 
poorly clad. 

Let the Presbyterian Church exhibit a little more 
of this wisdom, and they will find that the Negro will 
take as naturally to it as he does to any other church. 
It is not p atriotis m the Negro wants, but a spirit of love 
and philanthropy exhibited towards him. He wants to 
feel that he is in touch with the great throbbing heart 
of the Presbyterian Church, that he is being interested 
in and loved by the church. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Staunch Friends of the Berean Church and Negro. 

But do not think for a moment that we wish to im- 
ply that the whole church exhibits the spirit towards 
the Negro which we have described, not by any means. 
There is a large and influential class who are thor- 
oughly interested in the welfare of the Negro, and who 
are earnestly employing their means to assist him in 
his efforts to rise. It is from this class that most of the 
means is received Which is used in carrying on the mis- 
sionary work in the South and among the colored peo- 
ple in the North. And it is from this class too that 
most of the funds are received for church enterprises 
which get but little assistance from the General Boards 
of the church. There are hundreds of churches all 
over the land which are doing a grand and glorious 
work for Christ and humanity which would never have 
had an existence had it not been for the philanthropic 
spirit exhibited by these friends. This is particularly 
true of the Berean Church. 

The Berean Church stands as a monument of the 
good deeds of these friends. Could it speak it would be 
resonant with their notes of praise. Yea it does speak, 
for every stone has a voice, every beam a song of praise, 
every room an echo of gratitude which together make 
up one grand symphony sounding forth the praises 
of him who had graciously inclined the hearts of his 
servants to build a church for the poor. 

Too much cannot be said in praise of these friends 
who assisted in the building of the Berean Church. 
The fact is there cannot; be shown in the city of Phila- 
delphia a more beautiful exhibition of true Christian 
86 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



87 



philanthropy than in the grounds and buildings of this 
church, which were erected not alone by the contribu- 
tions of a few rich friends, but by the hundreds of con- 
tributions which were cheerfully given the pastor to as- 
sist him in his enterprise, by friends all over the city, 
and which are crystalized and exhibited in the grounds 
and buildings on South College avenue. We would 
like if we could call all these friends by name and pre- 
sent them to the Presbytery that they might receive its 
commendation, and praise, but this would be impractic- 
able. We think it would not be amiss however, to give the 
names of a few of the friends who* stood by us through 
all these years and assisted in bearing the burden and 
heat of the day. Among these we would mention the 
following, some of whom have gone to their reward 
above : 

* Judge Joseph Allison, *Prof. Charles A. Aiken, D. 

D. , *Dr. D. Hayes Agnew, C. B. Adamson, ^William 
Arrot, William H. Arrott, Miss Maggie Brown, *Alex- 
ander Brown, William H. Browne, *Mrs. Mary Bayard, 
The Misses Barclay, Mrs. Henry Biddle, *Gustavus S. 
Benson, *Mrs. Gustavus S. Benson, ^William Brockie, 
Jacob Brandstetter and wife, *John Baird, W. Atlee 
Burpee, * James Bateman, *Rev. James Clark, D. D., 
*George W. Childs, Rev. L. M. Colfelt, D. D., Charles 
H. Cramp, *Thomas Carrick, * Alexander Crow, Sr., 

E. R. Craven, *David Garrick, B. B. Comegys, 
Abram Coats, Henry H. Colline, Isaac H. Clothier, 
E. W. Clark, George V. Cresson, * Joseph P. Cooper, 
Joseph L. Caven, W. L. DuBois, John Dickey, *Mrs. 
Mary Disston, * James Dougherty, John Dobson, Rob- 
ert Dornan, James Dobson, John L. Davis, "^Hamil- 
ton Disston, ^Thomas H. Davis, John W. Dulles, *Geo. 
Eyster, Prof. Geo. Eastman, *Rev. Wm. H. Furness, D. 
D., *Sam'l Field, *Jas. A. Freeman, *John K. Freedley, 

* Deceased. 



88 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



*The Misses Faries, Aaron Faucett, *A. W. Gayley, 
Thomas G. Gayley, C. B. Grant, Henry D. Gregory, 
Stephen Green, Mrs. Emma C. Grant, Theo. R. Gra- 
ham, H. G. Goodrich, Geo. Griffiths, Rev. Wm. Green- 
ough, D. D., *William Hogg, *James Hogg, A. K. 
Harkness, *George S. Harris, *Samuel S. Huey, *H. 
H. Houston, *Prof. C. W. Hodge, D. D., *T. Charlton 
Henry, Charles F. Hazeltine, *Barton Hoopes, W. P. 
Henszey, George T. Harris, Theodore Kitchen, *Hur- 
bert Hogg, Rev. j. Addison Henry, D. D., E. P. Hip- 
pie, Thomas G. Hood, Frank Hippie, *Percy Heilner, 
* Joseph Harvey, *John O. Hughs, * James Irwin, G. C. 
Purves, William A. Ingham, Samuel H. Jarden, Mrs. 
Edwin A. Johns, Mrs. Margaret Jones, William Kelly, 
*H. G. Kern, *Elias D. Kennedy, Mrs. Mary F. Kem- 
ble, F. W. Kennedy, *Mrs. Lennox Kennedy, A. K. 
McClure, Jas. Moore,*Mr. Wm. G. Moorehead,*Mrs. John 
McGill, * Joseph J. Martin, J. W. Moffley *John T. Mc- 
Innis, *F. K. McLaughlin, *William Massey, *C. W. 
Middleton, T ames McManes, *Mrs. C. W. Middleton, 
Mrs. John Mclnnis, *John Mundell, Mrs. James Mc- 
Manes, George H. McFadden, *George B. Markle, Jos- 
eph D. McKee, Thomas MacKellar, James MacAulay, 
George H. McFadden, *Wm. E. Montelius, George C. 
Naphey, Wm. Potter, Rev. Matthew Newkirk, Prof. 
Allen Marquand, * Judge W. S. Peirce, *Mrs. Thomas 
Potter, *Edward Partridge, Wm. A. Patton, Vice Pres- 
ident P. R. R., *H. W. Pitkin, *Mrs. Thos. H. Powers, 
C. Pardee, Charles Porter, Joseph W. Pattison, *E. A. 
Rollins, C. P. Ring, Craig D. Ritchie, Mrs. R. Rhodes, 
Joseph C. Roop, David Scull, William H. Scott, Joseph 
Slack, Samuel G. Scott, Joseph E. Smaltz, *Thomas 
Stinson, *Elliott F. Shepard, *W. M. Sinclair, John B. 
Stetson, *W. D. Stroud, Dr. James H. Schenck, A. A. 
Shumway, Thomas W. Synnott, * Daniel 0. Hittner, The 
Misses Twaddell, *Horatio N. Thissell, George M. 



* Deceased. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



89 



Troutman, *P. H. Tenbrook, *David Vandevere, Cor- 
nelius W. Vanderbilt, *Alexander Whildin, Dr. C. S. 
Wurts, *Seldon S. Walkley, John H. Watt, John Wana- 
maker, *R. D. Wood Co., John W. Woodside, *David 
Young. 

Besides these friends, and many others who encour- 
aged us in our labors and to whom we feel most grate- 
ful, there are a few who deserve special mention. 
Among these are: 

Charles G. Blatchley, John H. Converse, William M. 
Cramp Joseph Clough, Mrs. Anna Coates, Ferdi- 
nand J. Dreer, Aaron Fries, Hon. George S. Graham, 
H. G. Goodrich, Mrs. James Hogg, Mrs. C. L. Hogg, 
Mr. William P. Henszey, Samuel B. Huey, Robert M. 
Hogue, J. Renwick Hogg, Miss Emma Hogg, C. W. 
Lawall, Henry M. Lewis, John McGill, Miss Mary Otto, 
Robert C. Ogden, Thomas MacKellar, Rev. Wm. H. 
Miller, D. D., George Peirce, William S. Reyburn, Dr. 
R. Stewart, William M. Singerly, V. C. Sweatman, Wil- 
liam Still, Mrs. Mary Singerly, Mrs. C. C. Sinclair, W. 
T. Synnott, William Wood, Thomas Wood, Dr. Edward 
H. Williams, W. W. Wallace, Rev. Charles Wood, D. D. 

Too much cannot be said in praise of these friends, 
for through them principally the Berean Church owes 
its permanent existence. During all these years in 
which we were obliged to solicit for the debt they stood 
ready with heart and hand to encourage us in our ef- 
forts. Indeed hardly a year passed from the time we 
started to solicit funds in 1881 up to the present time 
in which they were not called upon to assist. 
Occasionally they would be called upon several times 
in one year and seldom would they refuse to respond. 
Many times have they come to our rescue when we 
were about to fall — times when we were almost utterly 
discouraged, being foot-sore, tired, penniless, and sick 
at heart; times when it seemed that every friend had 



* Deceased. 



9 o 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



deserted us, and that we were left alone, then we went 
trembling to them as a last resort, and received just the 
help and encouragement we needed. Oh how we 
thanked almighty God for inclining their hearts to as- 
sist us, and with what ecstacies of delight did our heart 
burst forth in gratitude and praise. To them the Be- 
rean Church and the colored people of Philadelphia, owe 
a debt of gratitude which they will never be able to 
express much less repay. 

The Board of Trustees. 

Six of the twelve Trustees elected to the board are 
chosen from these friends. The church felt as most 
of the money secured for the enterprise was contributed 
by friends outside of the church that it would be only 
right and proper to let them have a voice in the man- 
agement of its temporalities, especially in holding the 
property which is valuable. Besides the church needed 
their superior wisdom and judgment as well as business 
experience. 

When articles of incorporation were taken out in 1890 
twelve Trustees were elected by the church as follows : 

Four were elected for a term of three years, four for 
a term of two, and four for a term of one year. Since 
then four Trustees are elected for three years every year. 
The pastor of the church being a Trustee by virtue of 
his office, and by the constitution and by-laws he is the 
President of the Board of Trustees. 

The personnel of the Board of Trustees when the 
charter was adopted was as follows: 

John McGill, Hon. Geo. S. Graham, James Porter, 
Samuel J. Diton, elected for three years from February 
24th, 1890; Dr. Reuel Stewart, Wm. M. Cramp, Wesley 
Taylor, Richard Thomas, elected for two years from 
February 24th, 1890; Wm. S. Reyburn, J. Renwick 
Hogg, Dennis McKinney, Geo. Jayne, elected for one 
year from February 24th, 1890. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



9i 



The personnel of the Board 1 as it now stands, January 
I, 1897, is as follows: 

John McGill, Hon. Geo. S. Graham, James Porter, 
Lafayette Nicholas, three years from February 24th, 
1896, to February 24th, 1899; Dr. Reuel Stewart, Wm. 
M. Cramp, Wesley Taylor, Charles Thomas, three years 
from February 24th, 1895, to February 24th, 1898; Jos- 
eph Clough, J. Renwick Hogg, Dennis McKinney, 
Richard Thomas, three years from February 24th, 1894, 
to February 24th, 1897. 

The stated meetings of the board, are four, annually, 
and they are held in April, June, September and De- 
cember. At these meetings the accounts of the church 
are all carefully gone over, and at the end of the year 
the books are audited. 

At a call meeting of the board, January, 1896, the 
auditing committee, consisting of three persons out- 
side of the church, of which Dr. R. Stewart was chair- 
man reported, that they had gone over the accounts of 
the Berean Church for the last six years inclusive, and 
that they found the books to be strictly correct. They 
made also the significant remark that they did not be- 
lieve that there was a church in the city which had its 
accounts more accurately kept. The accounts of the 
Building Comittee and all money raised for the lot, 
church and parsonage was audited by special commit- 
tee called by the pastor at the suggestion of the Treas- 
urer, Mr. John McGill. The committee consisting of 
Messrs. Samuel H. Jarden, William S. Reyburn, and 
Dr. R. Stewart, each one of whom is outside of the 
Church and they reported that the accounts were cor- 
rect. 

We feel now that we have given a faithful and cor- 
rect account of our work in the Berean Church from 
the time we took charge, October 14th, 1879, to Octo- 
ber 14th, 1896, embracing a period of seventeen years, 
and we hope that a careful reading of what has been 



9^ 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



written will lead not only to a better understanding of 
the internal life of the Berean Church and field, the 
motives and efforts of the pastor, but also to a livelier 
interest in this church and the needs of the colored peo- 
ple generally. We hope that a careful perusal of the 
facts enumerated will lead the great Presbytery of Phila- 
delphia to do a great and glorious work within its very 
bounds for God and humanity, and that they will be 
induced to seize upon it at once. We hope that the 
Presbytery and friends of the Negro will take hold of 
the work which has already been begun by the Berean 
Church and assist in developing it and thus make of this 
church a great and a mighty power in the elevation of 
the Negro. Could our humble efforts accomplish this we 
will ask no more. 

There are two or three other items of which we are 
in honor bound to speak before closing. One of these 
has been alluded to several times, and we promised to 
refer to the same more particularly at the close. 



CHAPTER IX. 



Events in Mr. Anderson's Experience. 

We have frequently said it and the more we examine 
our experience the more are we convinced of their cor- 
rectness namely that the experiences of our life have 
been the unexpected. Possibly this is what every other 
man thinks of himself or of his past life, certainly it is 
what we feel has been true in regard to ourselves. 
From the time of our entering upon the ministry until 
the present it has been the unexpected. Indeed our 
studying for the ministry at all was the unexpected, we 
had no thought when we entered college of being a min- 
ister of the Gospel. Our aim was to fit ourselves for 
the greatest practical good in our power, for God and 
humanity, especially in lifting the shadows from the race 
with which we were identified, and though we had no 
thought of studying for the ministry when we had 
completed our college course at Oberlin we found our- 
selves in Princeton Theological Seminary almost with- 
out knowing how we got there. Brought up in the 
country upon a farm, long way from any town or city, 
we had often in our youthful longings wished to live 
for a while at least in a great city especially in New York. 
When we were about to graduate at Princeton an urgent 
call came to come to New York, immediately, to do spec- 
ial work for the American Missionary Association, and 
though we offered many objections as we had other 
plans, the call was so pressing that we went. This 
was our .Second Unexpected. We had often had a 
longing desire when a youth to have the opportunity 
to attend some good Eastern College as Yale, Amherst, 

93 



94 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



Harvard, etc., but the thought was abandoned because 
we had not the means to go. Instead we went West 
and graduated at Oberlin after which we came to Prince- 
ton, and as we have said from there we went 
to New York. Just as we were about to fin- 
ish the work we had gone to New York to 
do, we received an urgent call to come to New 
Haven, Conn., to supply the Temple Street Congregational 
Church, there, a church we had never heard of, much 
less sought, neither had we any thought of going East 
at the time, as it had not occurred to us that New Haven 
was the seat of Yale. Having no other opening and 
no good reason why we should not accept, we went. The 
church would consent to have but one service, only one 
sermon was to be preached on the Sabbath, and but one 
prayer meeting held during the week. Having so 
much leisure at our command we concluded to matricu- 
late in the Seminary and take a post graduate course, 
which we did. This was our Third Unexpected experi- 
ence. 

From the time we resolved to study for the ministry we 
concluded that the field for which we had the most 
natural fitness was the mission field, a thought which 
we never abandoned. Accordingly we resigned the 
work in New Haven after two years of service as a 
supply, and in the spring of 1879 started, ostensively 
for the South, to engage in mission work there. Stop- 
ping over for a few days in Philadelphia as the guest 
of Dr. Reeve. While at Dr. Reeve's home he casually sug- 
gested that we should take hold of the Gloucester Mission, 
Philadelphia, which had been started by, and was under 
the spiritual oversight of his church, the Lombard Street 
Central. We had never heard of the mission before, 
and of course could have had no thought about it. 
After much thought and prayer over the subject, and 
consultation with friends, it was decided that we take 
charge of the work here. On the 14th of October, 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



95 



1879, as before stated, we took charge of this work. 
This was our Fourth Unexpected. 

We had not labored many months before it was ap- 
parent, that if we would have permanency in the work 
there must be a church building. The Subject was 
brought to the attention of the Presbytery of Philadel- 
phia Central. 

The Action of the Presbytery of Philadelphia Central. 

Considerable interest was manifested on the part of 
the brethren, nearly a thousand dollars was at once 
pledged towards a lot and building, not by the Presby- 
tery as such, but by individual Brethren who spoke in 
behalf of the object. At the same time the Mission was 
transferred from the care of Central Church to the Pres- 
bytery of Philadelphia Central, which voted unanimously 
to take both it and its Missionary, and they jocosly christ- 
ened it "Our Black Baby." All this was unexpected, and 
constituted our Fifth Unexpected experience. 

Interest Shown by Mr. Samuel H. Jarden. 

Wishing to crystalize the generous pledges of the 
brethren into tangible and legal form which they had 
made public on the floor of Presbytery, we went to 
each of them after sufficient time had elapsed to have 
them subscribe in our book over their signatures the 
amount they had named, but to our surprise all of these 
brethren except one, positively refused, giving as a 
reason for their unexpected action, that they wanted 
more evidence that the Mission was needed, and that 
we would succeed. 

Mr. Samuel H, Jarden. 

Mr. Samuel H. Jarden, on the contrary, an Elder of 
the Green Hill Church did not hesitate to subscribe on 
our book $250, the amount which he had publicly named 
on the floor of Presbytery. Thus he became the first 
to subscribe to the Berean Presbyterian Church, and 



9 6 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



hence was the fulcrum by which we were able to secure 
other subscriptions which led to the final success of the 
undertaking. . 

Mr. Jarden in drawing up the conditions made his and 
all other subscripitons following to be binding, only 
on condition that there be subscribed $6,000 in two 
years from date. His motive for doing this as we 
know positively was not to defeat the object, but to in- 
spire us to go forward and to encourage liberal contri- 
butions. Mr. Jarden made his subscription and wrote 
the conditions on the 14th of May, 1881. 

Many smiled when they saw it. On the strength of it 
the Presbytery most willingly and unanimously author- 
ized the pastor of the Berean Church to go forward and 
raise ten or fifteen thousand dollars for a lot and building. 
Few believed that it would be accomplished, that is, 
the raising of six thousand dollars in two years, which 
if not accomplished would of course defeat the whole. 
But we never doubted it and went forward with the in- 
ward assurance of success. But we were at times se- 
verely tried. 

Almost Ready to Give Up. 

Eighteen months had passed and there had been sub- 
scribed on our books as yet, but thirty-five hundred 
dollars. We knew not where to go, we had walked all 
over the city and called on every charitably disposed 
man and woman whose names we had learned. We did 
not know what to do. Tired in body and mind, strive 
as we would the fear would come stealing over us that we 
might not succeed, for there were $2,500 still to raise and 
only six months time in which to raise it. Never have we 
felt more despondent than we did on one bright morn- 
ing in November, 1882, when we left our residence for 
a day's tramp for subscriptions. Everything was blank 
before us, there was not a single person in all Philadel- 
phia of whom we had the least intimation that he would 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



97 



respond to our appeal. We were wretched. The 
thought of failing after having thirty-five hundred hun- 
dred dollars subscribed was most discouraging. We 
walked the streets but we knew not whither, and hardly 
knew for what purpose. The thought finally came to 
us like a flash, ''go and see Mr. McGill and tell him all." 
But we rebelled against the thought. "Why go and see 
him," we argued, "when he has only given us $5 within 
two years, though we had gone to see him often within 
that time?" Still the thought would keep repeating 
itself, "go and see Mr. McGill and tell him all." It 
might be well to state here that Mr. Horatio N. Thissell 
an Elder in the Alexander Presbyterian Church, now 
West Green, and also the foreman of the American Tract 
Society's Book Store, in Philadelphia, was very much 
interested in the Berean Church and he was the writer's 
principal counsellor. He would say to him "Mr. Ander- 
son there is no better man in the city of Philadelphia 
than Mr. McGill. He is a man of few words but when 
he decides to do a thing he does it. I believe that he 
will be led to assist you in your efforts to build a 
church. Go and see him and tell him all. See him 
often." Hardly a month passed during these two years 
from the time that Mr. Thissell first advised us that we 
did not call on Mr. McGill, but as we have said all that 
he gave us in that time was $5, and he did not give us 
the least assurance that we were making any impression 
upon him whatever. Hence when the thought came to 
us on the morning in question bidding us, "go and see 
Mr. McGill." We were full of rebellion against it. But 
having no one else pointed out to us upon whom to call 
this seemed to be the only olive branch of hope. 

Mr. McGill's Revelation to Mr. Anderson. 

We therefore concluded to go, though we might be 
driven out of his office when we entered. But our sur- 
prise can be imagined, when he greeted us most cor- 
7 



9 8 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



dially, shaking us by the hand, when we entered and at 
the same time, addressing us thus, "Mr. Anderson I am 
glad you called, I want to know where the colored peo- 
ple live and where a church should be located in order 
to be central to them ; and also where vacant lots are for 
sale in the neighborhood, in which you would have a 
church, for I have sent my agent out to see what a 
lot for a church could be secured for." Never in all 
my life had anything so completely overcome me. I 
had gone to his office not expecting to receive any en- 
couragement whatever but rather discouragement. I 
went feeling most wretched, my hope had almost gone. 
But this unexpected news almost unbalanced me. I 
could hardly answer for the emotions of joy which welled 
up in my throat and the suffusion of tears which filled 
my eyes. Continuing he said, "I have thought Mr. 
Anderson that as I may not be able to give you any large 
amount of money, I might be of service in assisting you 
to secure a lot and building a church, from my exper- 
ience as a business man. All of his questions were an- 
swered to the best of our ability in the order in which 
they were asked. We told him of a lot on Girard 
avenue between 19th and 20th streets concerning which 
we had been in correspondence with the agent, for which 
he asked $6,300. 

The Seventh Unexpected. 
This interview with Mr. McGill on this bright No- 
vember morning and the revelation he made was the 
Seventh Unexpected in our history. From that time 
to the present, so far as our experience with Mr. McGill 
is concerned it has been the unexpected all the way 
through. It was due to Mr. McGill wholly that we 
were able to meet the conditions on which the money was 
to be subscribed and thus secure the six thousand dollars 
we started out to raise. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



99 



Mr. McGill Took Hold. 
Mr. McGill first purchased the lot on Girard avenue 
for $4,500 and afterwards sold the same for $6,000, turn- 
ing over to the credit of the church fifteen hundred 
dollars, made by the transaction. Thus within a few 
weeks with his assistance the $6,000 were secured, and 
we were able to demand all the subscriptions. He also 
subscribed at this time two hundred and fifty dollars on 
our book. 

Mr. McGill next purchased the large and valuable lot 
on South College avenue 136x147 feet, between 19th and 
20th streets, on which he erected the beautiful blue 
marble church, which is so generally admired, and two 
dwellings, numbers 1926 and 1928; the former for a par- 
sonage and the latter for sale. His plan was, that what- 
ever was made from the sale of this dwelling should be 
turned over to the church towards the debt on grounds 
and buildings. When the parsonage was completed, he 
had the Pastor and his family move into the house, 
charging him only a nominal rental, as his salary was 
small; and that he might not be the least embarrassed 
from the outlays he was obliged to make for carpet and 
etc., he gave him four months rent free. A more gener- 
ous and noble act of kindness it has not been our good 
fortune to witness. 

From the time that Mr. McGill expressed an interest 
in the church in 1882, he has been the same kind unas- 
suming friend, and though he did not build the church 
alone, in the sense that he contributed all the funds or 
the larger part of them, yet his spirit, his great noble 
heartedness is impressed about all Berean. And 
the amount of good he is doing in the way of infusing 
a spirit of thrift and independence in the minds of hun- 
dreds of the poor colored people in this city through the 
Berean Church is incalcuable. While we take to our- 
selves the honor of projecting the Berean Building and 
Loan Association, it has been Mr. McGill's persevering 



IOO 



FRESB YTERIA NISM, 



and untiring efforts which has brought it where it is. 
While we are greatly indebted to many other friends 
for valuable assistance rendered us in our efforts to pay 
off the debt on the Berean Church it is to Mr. McGill 
principally that we are indebted. His cheering words, his 
wise counsels, his generous contributions, and his con- 
stancy are to the pastor and the Berean Church and to 
the colored people generally, blessings that can not be 
measured. 

Other Friends. 

There are other friends also who not only gave liber- 
ally but whose hearts have gone out in travail for the 
success of our work. Among these are Mr. William 
Reyburn, Mr. Thomas Wood, Mr. William Wood, Mr. 
V. C. Sweatman, Mr. J. Renwick Hogg, Mr. Robert M. 
Hogue, Mr. John H. Converse, Dr. Edwin Williams, 
Mrs. Jas. Hogg, Mrs. Anna Coates, Mrs. C. L. Hogg 
and daughters. Ten years ago one of our friends above 
named Mrs. H. came to the pastor of the Berean Church 
and expressed a desire to have a class in his Sabbath 
School. The class was most gladly given and she has 
been one of the most faithful and devoted teachers of 
the Berean Church School from that time to the pres- 
ent. Nothing but sickness or absence from the city pre- 
vents her from being at her post of duty. Rain or shine, 
cold or hot, snow or mud, she is found in her class and 
ready to give a cheerful and encouraging word to all. 
No one of our friends has so completely won the hearts 
of the church and the Sabbath School as this noble 
Christian worker. 

Had we the time we would like to take each one of 
our brethren in the ministry by the hand, especially 
those who have been particularly helpful to us in our 
work and thank them heartily for their kindness. Such as 
Drs. Agnew, Beale, Cattell Dana, Robert Fulton, Robert 
Graham, Hunter, J. A. Henry, Greenough, R. T. Jones, 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



101 



Loucks, McCook, Monro, Mutchmore, Henry A. Nel- 
son, Newkirk, John B. Reeve, Rice, Rommel, Sands, 
Wadsworth, Wood, T. J. Lee, Worden, Wylie, Emerson, 
L. Y. Graham, Miller, of Bryn Mawr, and Prof. Hugh 
M. Browne, of Washington, D. C, Henry J. Van Dyke, 
Jr., D. D., of New York, Wm. M., Paxton, D. D., of 
Princeton, N. J., F. J. Grimkie, D. D., of Washington, D. 
C., J. Andrew Crawford, D. D., of Chambersburg, Pa., 
Wm. A. Lynch, of Newark, N. J., Wm. R. Templeton, 
of Reading, Pa., Thomas H. Robinson, D. D., of the 
Western Theological Seminary, R. H. Armstrong, of 
Harrisburg, H. Weaver, D. D., and Edward F. Eggleson, 
of Baltimore, and many others both ministerial and 
lay brethren. To all of them we wish to express our 
heart felt thanks for their many acts of kindness to us 
and the church we love, the Berean, and for thus aiding 
us in our feeble efforts to advance Presbyterianism not 
only among the colored people in Philadelphia but 
throughout the country at large. 

The Philadelphia Sentinel. 

The following is an extract from the Philadelphia Sen- 
tinel on the work of the Berean Church, May i8th, 1889: 

"Notwithstanding Mr. Anderson succeeded in secur- 
ing $6,000 in two years, the time he had obligated him- 
self to secure it, and a lot had been purchased yet he had 
not succeeded in arousing the faith of his own people, 
to assist in securing the same. Indeed so weak was 
their faith that they not only refused to believe that he 
had succeeded in raising the $6,000 in the two years, but 
they also refused to believe, that a lot was purchased, 
until the corner stone was laid and the report was pub- 
licly read and circulated, that the church was a certainty. 

"It was this lack of co-operation on the part of his 
own people as well as the want of faith on the part of 
others that made the work so exceedingly laborious and 
discouraging. On the 2nd of November, 1884, the new 



102 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



church was formally opened to the public. The sermon 
was preached by Rev. Wm. M. Paxton, D. D., LL. D., 
Professor in Princeton Theological Seminary. The 
opening services were carried through the month of 
November and were participated in by the clergy of the 
city, white and colored, and also prominent clergymen 
of New York and Brooklyn, such as Rev, Marvin R. 
Vincent, D. D., Rev. Henry J. Van Dyke, D. D., who had 
been a class mate of Mr. Anderson's at Princeton, Rev. 
Howard Crosby, D. D., and Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler, 
D. D., Brooklyn, N. Y. 

"The church in architecture is Gothic in style, is built 
of blue marble and has all the conveniences of a well 
arranged church building. The grounds are beautifully 
laid off in walks and flower beds which add very much 
to its attractive appearance. The church cost including 
the furnishing, over $33,000. When the account was 
audited the 24th of April, 1888, it was found that there 
had been paid in, $18,558.23, leaving a balance of a float- 
ing debt due Mr. McGill, 5,141.57 and a bond and mort- 
gage of $5,000, which would be a total debt of $10,141.57. 
Thus the lot and church, up to this point had cost $28,- 
699.80. The furnishing of the church which it is pro- 
posed to have done in a short time with the interest on 
the debt, will make the completed church stand about 
$33,000. 

"On the 24th of April, 1888, Mr. Anderson moved 
forward to receive subscriptions to lift the debt of $10,- 
141.57, standing against the church, binding himself to 
all, who would give him $100 and upwards to raise the 
whole amount in one year from date. Only a few of those 
who put down their names for $100 believed he would 
succeed in raising the amount in that time. But on the 
23rd of April, 1889, he had secured as subscriptions on 
his book toward the debt, $10,235, $93.43 over the 
amount he set out to raise. This he did in one year to 
a day. 



ITS RELATIOA TO THE NEGRO. 



103 



"It would be interesting to note here that Mr. McGill, 
the gentleman who befriended Mr. Anderson, when he 
was the most discouraged on raising the first $6000 be- 
came his warmest and best friend, assuming all the finan- 
cial obligations, paying all bills and waiting for Mr. An- 
derson to refund the money. He not only purchased 
the lot but put up the church, consulting Mr. Anderson 
in every detail, wishing to carry out strictly his desire 
and that of his people, the same being true also of the 
parsonage. No one but he who is engaged in a work 
of the kind can understand how great this assistance was, 
and how grateful, not only the Berean Presbyterian 
Church should be, but also all who are interested in the 
success of our people, to Mr. McGill for his services. 
When Mr. Anderson started out to lift the debt of $10,000, 
Mr. McGill at once put down his name for $2500. Within 
three weeks of the time, when the whole amount should 
be raised, there was needed still $2600, and Mr. McGill 
fearing that Mr. Anderson would likely fail, again sub- 
scribed 1000, making $3500 that he subscribed on the 
the debt at this time. In all, besides the labor he gave 
in supervising the putting up of the building, and money 
he solicited, he subscribed $4000. His partner in busi- 
ness gave $1000, making $5000 from members of one 
firm. 

"But in speaking of what Mr. McGill and his partner, 
Mr. Wm. Wood, have done, we must not fail to notice 
what many of the other friends have done in the way 
of assisting Mr. Anderson in this work. Among these 
friends we might notice Mr. James Hogg, who was 
among the very first to assist and who placed a window 
in the church to the memory of his father ; also his broth- 
er, Mr. Wm. Hogg. These friends have both passed 
away, but they still speak. A window has been erected 
to the memory of Mr. Wm. Hogg, by Iris widow, in the 
Berean Church. 

"Notice should also be taken of Wm. Arrott, since 



io4 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



deceased. This gentleman had taken a most active inter- 
est in the success of the enterprise, having agreed to 
stand by Mr. McGill until all the money was raised. 
Also Mr. Wm. Reyburn, father of the Senator, who has 
given most liberally; a gentleman who is not only a 
warm personal friend of Mr. Anderson, but who is inter- 
ested in the general elevation of the colored race. Also 
Mr. John H. Converse, who has given repeatedly, ag- 
gregating upwards of $1000; and Dr. R .Stewart, who 
not only gave of his means but has been most helpful 
to Mr. Anderson with his counsels; and Dr. Stewart 
Werts, who gave freely to the work. But neither time 
nor space will permit to speak of all the friends person- 
ally who have aided in this work. Had we time and 
space we might mention Mrs. Mary Disston and her 
sons, Mr. Alexander Whilldin, who always had a word 
of encouragement to give; Mr. Joseph Clough, who was 
among the first to urge Mr. Anderson forward; Mr. 
Thomas Wood, Mr. Joseph L. Caven, Mr. Joseph J. 
Martin, the Misses Otto, Mrs. Catharine M. Singerly, 
who always had a word of encouragement, and Mrs. 
James Hogg, who is one of Mr. Anderson's friends, a 
teacher in the Sabbath School, and who has ever been 
ready to encourage him in his efforts. The same is also 
true of her sons. Also Mrs Wm. Hogg and her daugh- 
ter; Mrs. Anna M. Grant, Mrs. Anna Coates, Messrs. 
John and James Dobson, who, though they have never 
seen the church, have given freely toward the building; 
Mr. Wm. M. Cramp, the ship builder, who, though not at 
all interested at first, has since given upwards of $500; 
Hon. Geo. S. Graham, Mr. V. C. Sweatman, Mr. Charles 
G. Blatchley, Mr. C. W. Lawall, Mr. Wm. M. Singerly, 
proprietor of the Record ; Judge Joseph Allison, Messrs. 
Wm. G. Massey, James Moore, Charles Porter, Samuel 
C. Huey; Mrs. Matthew Baird, James A. Freeman, 
George W. Childs, Wm. C. Henszey, Wm. H. Kemble 
and Wm. Still. 



ITS REIATION TO THE NEGRO. 105 

All these friends have given $100 and upwards, many 
others have given in less amounts, but all have given 
freely and as much as they have given to any other simi- 
lar enterprise. But it must be understood that these sub- 
scriptions were not obtained by the mere asking but only 
after the most urgent importunities on the part of Mr. 
Anderson, he often being obliged to call on an individual 
over twenty times before obtaining a subscription. For 
eight years Mr. Anderson has walked the streets of 
Philadelphia day and night, going everywhere he 
thought it was possible to obtain a subscription, meet- 
ing with every manner of insult, having doors slammed 
in his face, ordered out of offices and treated in every 
way unbecoming his position as a Christian minister 
and a gentleman. 

"Mr. Anderson's experience in raising funds for his 
church was that of every colored man who has attempted 
to do the same, for every colored man who has gone 
out to collect funds had to meet the prejudices of the 
whites. Invariably he is looked upon as a poor colored 
beggar, having nothing himself, representing a people 
who are very poor and a cause beneath their considera- 
tion, and the subscriptions he receives are in keeping 
with the manner in which his cause is considered. Mr. 
Anderson resolved from the very first to compel respect 
both for himself and the cause he represented. He re- 
solved never to allow an insult to pass unnoticed but to 
meet by argument every attempt to belittle him and his 
work as well as the race he represented. In this way 
he did much to raise the standard of his people by com- 
pelling the attention of those who heretofore had little 
or no respect for the colored race. The following are 
some examples of the manner in which he treated the 
disrespect of the whites: 

On one occasion, when ordered out of the house, 
and having the door slammed behind him by one of the 
chief officials of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Mr. Ander- 



io6 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



son wrote him a very plain and severe letter, showing 
the smallness of his action, the character of the position 
he occupied in the Pennsylvania Railroad, the occupant 
of which was supposed to be a gentleman, the character 
of his (Mr. Anderson's) enterprise, the character of the 
gentlemen who were backing him in his enterprise, and 
he closed by saying that "five hundred souls as small as 
his could dance on the point of a cambric needle." Suf- 
fice it to say that this gentleman answered Mr. Ander- 
son's letter, apologizing for his action, with a check en- 
closed. 

On another occasion the proprietor of one of our lead- 
ing newspapers, when first approached by Mr. Anderson 
on the subject of a subscription for his church, cursed 
him and ordered him out of his office. He left, but on 
leaving, remarked that he would call again when he (the 
proprietor) he hoped would be in a better frame of mind. 
He did call, and several times, getting from this same 
gentleman upwards of $400, and he is now one of his 
best friends. 

On another occasion Mr. Anderson called to receive 
the subscription from a prominent gentleman who had 
subscribed on his book. This gentleman, in making out 
the check, refused to make it out in Mr. A.'s name, but 
in the name of a friend, evidently because he had no 
confidence in him on account of his color. Mr. Ander- 
son received the check but was very indignant. The 
next morning he returned the check with the remark 
that all the other checks had been made out in his name, 
and if he could not make out his check of $25 in Mr. 
Anderson's name he had better keep it. He looked 
at Mr. Anderson for a moment, took the check, tore it 
in pieces and wrote another in his name. From that 
time to the present he has been one of our best friends 
and has his respect heightened for the colored people. 

On another occasion Mr. Anderson called on a very 
wealthy lady for a subscription. To his dismay and 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



107 



disgust, the servant handed him from the lady, twenty- 
five cents. Mr. A. at once handed it back to the servant, 
telling him to give the madam his compliments and to 
say to her, that he was not receiving twenty-five cents 
from ladies of her standing. But Mr. Anderson, fearing 
that this chuckle-headed Irishman, for he was very in- 
sulting, would simply stuff the twenty-five cents into 
his pocket and say nothing to the madam, wrote her a 
plain but polite letter, giving her to understand the na- 
ture of the enterprise and the interest taken in it by many 
of her friends, some of them neighbors, and wound up by 
saying that he felt sure she could not have understood 
who he was or the character of his work, or she would 
not have sent down twenty-five cents, and it was for 
this reason he had returned it to her by the servant. 
Suffice it to say the return mail brought him a polite 
note, apologizing, and containing a check for twenty- 
five dollars. 

In this way Mr. Anderson preached to a large and 
influential class of people who heretofore had not the 
respect for the colored people that they now have. 

But we would not give the impression that all the en- 
couragement, financial and otherwise, that was given to 
Mr. A. came from the whites. True, his labors were 
confined principally among them, for his congregation 
being small and poor, and his undertaking great and 
arduous, to succeed he reasoned rightly that he should 
go among those who were in a condition to subscribe 
largely to his work, and thus enable him to complete the 
whole in a few years. But to do this his own people 
were necessarily largely neglected. Nevertheless many 
of them contributed according to their means to the 
enterprise. One poor girl put in a window to the 
memory of one of the members of the church; a num- 
ber gave from $1 to $10. The First African Church put 
in a window to the memory of the founder of that 
church, Rev. Stephen Gloucester; the Witherspoon 



io8 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



Presbyterian Church, (colored) of Princeton, N. J., put 
in a window to the memory of Mrs. Flora Striker, an 
old member of that church; the Berean Presbyterian 
Church put in a window in behalf of the Sabbath School. 

The pastor Rev. Mr. Anderson put in a window to 
the memory of his father and mother. Mr. Wm. Still 
gave upwards of $200, and many others did much to 
encourage the work. 

It is designed to make the Berean Presbyterian 
Church, in every sense of the word, a church for the 
people. Already a Building Association has been es- 
tablished, having over a hundred members in good 
standing. The association receives from $400 to $500 
every month. The object of the association is to secure 
homes for our people. Six houses have already been 
purchased on which $9,000 has been loaned out this 
year." 

Note. — The association now has (1897) over three hun- 
dred members in connection with it. And the average 
monthly receipts are over twelve hundred dollars, while 
the assets are over sixty thousand dollars, this, to^ 
gether with upwards of fifty homes secured. 
The officers are, President, William Still ; Treasurer, John 
McGill, Secretary, Wm. W. Still; Solicitor, George S. 
Graham. 

"It is designed to establish a penny savings bank at a 
very early date; also a Dispensary and Reading Room. 
The church is free to all, and all are most cordially 
invited." 

Charter of the Berean Presbyterian Church 
of Philadelphia. 

Be it known that the subscribers with their associates 
having formed a congregation in the city of Philadelphia 
for the purpose of worshipping God according to the 
faith, doctrine, discipline and usages of the Presbyterian 
Church, in the United States of America, and being 
desirous of becoming incorporated agreeably to the 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



109 



provisions of the Act of the General Assembly of the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, entitled "An Act to 
provide for the Incorporation and Regulation of certain 
Corporations," approved the 29th day of April, Anno 
Domini, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, 
and its suppliments, do hereby declare, set forth and 
certify that the following are the purposes, objects, arti- 
cles and conditions of their said association, for and 
upon which they desire to be incorporated. 

1. The name of the corporation shall be The Berean 
Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia. 

2. The said corporation is formed for the purpose 
of the worship of Almighty God, according to the faith, 
doctrines, discipline and usages of the Presbyterian 
Church in the United States of America. 

3. The location of the said corporation and place 
wherein its business is to be transacted is the City of 
Philadelphia. 

4. The corporation is to have perpetual existence. 

5. The corporation has no capital stock, and there 
are no subscribers to shares of stock in this corporation. 

6. The oversight and management of the said corpora- 
tion shall be vested in a board of twelve Trustees, all of 
whom shall be laymen. The said Trustees shall be 
chosen annually by the lay members of the Corporation, 
at the time and in the manner to be provided by the 
By-laws, the names and residences of those who are 
chosen Trustees for the first year are as follows, viz.: 
John McGill, Woodside, West Philadelphia; Samuel J. 
Diton, No. 1305 Wood street; William M. Cramp, No. 
2008 Green street; James Porter, No. 2218 Turner street; 
George S. Graham, 15 17 North 15th street; Dr. 
Reuel Stewart, No. 1840 Green street; Wesley Taylor, 
No. 1728 Green street; Richard Thomas, No. 663 North 
12th street; William S. Reyburn, S. E. corner of 19th 
and Spring Garden streets; J. Renwick Hogg, No. 929 
North Broad street; George Jayne, No. 717 West 



I IO 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



street; and Dennis McKinney, No. 651 Hedding street; 
all in the city of Philadelphia. 

7. The said Corporation shall have perpetual suc- 
cession by its corporative name and shall have power 
to maintain and defend judicial proceedings; to make 
and use a common seal and alter the same at pleasure; 
to hold, purchase and transfer real and personal prop- 
erty as the purposes of the Corporation require, not ex- 
ceeding the amount limited by law; to make a Consti- 
tution and By-laws not inconsistent with law and the same 
to alter, add to and amend in such manner as the said 
Constitution and By-laws may prescribe, provided that 
such Constitution and By-laws shall not be repugnant 
to nor inconsistent with this charter, the form of gov- 
ernment of the Presbyterian Church in the United States 
of America, or the Constitution and Laws of the United 
States or of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania; to 
enter into any obligation necessary to the transaction 
of its ordinary affairs, and generally to enjoy such pow- 
ers and privileges as are incident to corporations of this 
character under the laws of this Commonwealth, pro- 
vided that all property, real and personal, of the said Cor- 
poration, now held by it or hereafter acquired in any 
manner shall be taken, held by, enure to and be subject 
to the control and disposition of the lay members of 
said Corporation, citizens of the State of Pennsylvania, 
and provided that in no case shall the Real Estate be- 
longing to the said Corporation be mortgaged or en- 
cumbered for the payment of the current expenses of 
the church. John McGill, Wesley Taylor, James Por- 
ter, Geo. S. Graham, Reuel Stewart, Samuel J. Diton, 
Richard Thomas, Wm. M. Cramp, Wm. S. Reyburn, J. 
Renwick Hogg, George F. Jayne, Dennis McKinney. 

Decree. 

Philadelphia County, S. S. 

And now, the 22d day of June, A. D. 1890, the forego- 
ing certificate of incorporation having been duly acknowl- 



ITS RELATION TO THEJfEGRO. 



in 



edged before the Recorder of Deeds for the county of 
Philadelphia, and the same being duly certified under 
his hand and seal, and having been presented to me, 
a law judge of the said county, accompanied with 
proof of publication, I certify that I have examined the 
said instrument and found it in proper form and within 
the purposes named in the first class of the Act of As- 
sembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, approved 
the twenty-ninth of April, A. D. 1874, entitled "An Act 
to provide for the Incorporation and Regulation of cer- 
tain Corporations," and its supplements and the same 
appears lawful and not injurious to the community; it 
is therefore ordered and decreed that the said Charter 
be, and the same is hereby approved ; and that the Char- 
ter and this order be recorded in the office for Recording 
Deeds, &c, in and for the city and county aforesaid and 
that upon such record of the Charter and this order, the 
subscribers thereto and their associates and successors 
shall be a corporation for the purpose and upon the 
terms therein stated, and by the name therein given. 

Respectfully, 
State of Pennsylvania, City of Philadelphia, ss: 

On the Eighth day of May A. D. 1890, before me, 
the Recorder of Deeds of the city and county of Phila- 
delphia, personally appeared, Samuel J. Diton, James 
Porter, and Richard Thomas 

Three of the above named subscribers to the fore- 
going Certificate of Incorporation, who in due form of 
law acknowledge the same to be their act and deed and 
desired the same might be recorded as such. 

Witness my hand and seal of office the day and year 
aforesaid. Recorder of Deeds. 

Recorded in the office for Recording of Deeds, &c, 
in and for the City of Philadelphia, in charter book, No. 
16, page 154, &c. 

Witness my hand and seal of office this 13th day of 
June, A. D. 1890. Recorder of Deeds. 



112 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS. 

Preamble. 

We the members of the Board of Trustees of the Be- 
rean Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, Pa., believing 
that systematic method is essential to efficiency in main- 
taining the temporal government of the church, do here- 
by agree in all of our transactions to be governed by 
the following standing rules. 

Article I. — Duties. 
Section I. It shall be the duty of every member of 
the Board of Trustees to attend all meetings of the 
Board regularly and punctually, and do all that he can 
to promote the welfare of the Berean Presbyterian 
Church. 

Article II. — Meetings. 

Section i. The Board of Trustees shall hold quarterly 
meetings on the third Thursday evenings in December, 
March, June, and September. 

Sec. 2. Special meetings of the Trustees may be held 
at any time upon the call of the President, provided, 
notice has been given from the pulpit or by postal card. 

Sec. 3. All stated or special meetings of the Trustees 
shall be held in the lecture room of the church at 8 
o'clock p. m. Special meetings may be held at the close 
of morning or evening services on the Sabbath. 

Article III. — Officers. 

Section 1. The officers of the Board of Trustees shall 
be a President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. 

Sec. 2. The minister of the church, by virtue of his 
office, shall be the President of the Board of Trustees. 

Sec. 3. The President shall preside at all stated or 
special meetings of the Board ; he shall call special meet- 
ings of the Board upon the request of three members, 
and also shall have power at any time whenever he may 
deem such meetings necessary for the interest of the 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



H3 



church to call the same upon his own motion. He shall 
appoint all standing or special Committees, and shall be 
ex-officio member of such committees. He shall sign 
all orders on the Treasurer, when such orders are author- 
ized by the Board of Trustees and properly made out 
and attested by the Secretary. 

Sec. 4. The Secretary shall keep a correct record of 
the proceedings of all meetings. He shall keep all the 
accounts between the members of the congrgation and 
the Board of Trustees. He shall receive all monies col- 
lected from the pew-rents, collections, except sessional 
collections, and all other services, and pay them over 
to the Treasurer and take his receipt for the same. He 
shall keep an accurate register of all pew-holders. He 
shall draw all orders on the Treasurer. He shall report 
quarterly to the Trustees when authorized by the Trus- 
tees, an itemized account of the receipts and expendi- 
tures for the quarter, and his books shall be opened to 
the inspection of any member of the Board of Trustees. 
He shall notify the members of the Board of all the meet- 
ings by postal card, when directed to do so by the Presi- 
dent. 

Sec. 5. The Treasurer shall receive from the secre- 
tary all monies collected by him from time to time, and 
receipt for the same. He shall keep an accurate ac- 
count of all monies received by him. He shall not pay 
any money out of the funds in his possession except upon 
the regular order of the Trustees, properly made out 
and signed by the President and Secretary. He shall 
report quarterly to the Trustees the condition of the 
treasury for the quarter and his books shall be open 
to any of the members of the Board of Trustees. 

Article IV. — Composition of the Board. 

Section 1. The Board of Trustees according to Art. 
VI of the charter shall consist of twelve, six of whom 
may be chosen outside of the regular congregation from 
8 



ii4 



PRESS YTERIANISM. 



friends especially interested in the success of the Berean 
Presbyterian Church and who have given of their time 
and means to the building of the church. 

Sec. 2. Six are to be chosen from members of the 
congregation. 

Sec. 3. To be eligible for the office of Trustees, one 
must be a regular contributor to the church, and con- 
form to the rules and regulations of the same. 

Sec. 4th. The Trustees shall be chosen in three 
classes, four in each class, according to the rotary plan. 

Sec. 5. The following persons have been elected and 
shall be Trustees: John McGill, Esq., Hon. Geo. S. 
Graham, James Porter and Samuel J. Diton, for three 
years from February 24th, 1890. Dr. Reuel Stewart, 
Wm. M. Cramp, Wesley Taylor and Richard Thomas 
for two years from February 24th, 1890. Hon. Wm. 
S. Reyburn, J. Renwick Hogg, Geo. F. Jayne and Den- 
nis McKinney for one year from February 24th, 1890, 
and each class shall hold office until their successors 
are duly elected. 

Article V. — The Fiscal Year. 

Section 1. The fiscal year of the congregation shall 
begin with the 1st day of January. 

Article VI. — Annual Meeting. 

The annual meeting of the congregation shall be on 
the third Thursday in February of each year. 

Article VII. 

The quarterly meeting of the Trustees shall be on the 
third Thursday evenings of March, June, September and 
December of each year. 

Article VIII. — Election of Trustees. 

Trustees of the Berean Presbyterian Church shall 
be elected at the regular annual meeting of the 
congregation, or at an adjourned, or special meet- 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



"5 



ing called for that purpose, and notice for said meeting 
shall be given from the pulpit for two Sabbaths pre- 
ceding. 

Article IX. — Committees. 

Section i. At the first meeting of the Board of Trus- 
tees, held after the election, the President shall appoint 
the following standing committees to serve for one year: 

First. Committee on Repairs, (three members) whose 
duty it shall be to make all necessary repairs to the 
church and parsonage, when the congregation shall have 
bougrit one, and they shall report quarterly to the Board 
what work they have done, with vouchers of the same 
provided, that in all cases they shall not exceed the sum 
of ten dollars without special authority from the Board 
at a stated or special meetings. 

Second. Committee on Pews, (three members, whose 
duty it shall be to attend to the renting of the pews and 
sittings, as soon as a system of pew renting shall have 
been adopted, and, they shall hold regular meetings upon 
the first and third Monday evenings in January, April, 
July and October; and, they shall keep an accurate reg- 
ister of all pews and sittings in a book to be provided 
for that purpose, and shall report quarterly to the Board 
of Trustees. 

Third. Financial Committee, (three members) whose 
duty it shall be to audit the accounts of the Secretary 
and Treasurer at the end of each quarter and report 
at the quarterly meetings of the Board of Trustees. 

Fourth. Sabbath Collection Committee, (three or 
more members.) 

Sec. 2. The three first named shall serve six 
months, the duty of the first and last shall be to take up 
the collections upon each of the Sabbath services and 
pay the same over to the Secretary. 

Sec. 3. Special Committees may be appointed from 
time to time as the necessity may arise requiring such 
and they shall present their reports within at least 



ii6 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



the second meeting of the Board of Trustees following 
the completion of their work, or, sooner if required by 
the Board. 

Article X. — The Church Council. 

Section I. It shall be the duty of the Trustees to co- 
operate with the Board of Deacons and members of the 
session, to promote the welfare of the Berean Presby- 
terian Church, which assembly or combination shall form 
the church council. 

Sec. 2. The Trustees shall defer final action upon 
all matters affecting the general welfare of the church 
until they have been considered by the church Council. 

Sec. 3. When the church Council, after mature delib- 
ation comes to a harmonious conclusion in regard to 
any matter affecting the general welfare of the church, 
that conclusion shall be accepted by the Board of Trus- 
tees, unless strong reasons shall exist for not accepting 
the same when the matter with reasons noted shall be 
referred back to the church Council. 

Sec. 4. The current expense of the church including 
the minister's salary, shall be determined by the church 
Council. 

Article XI. — Pews and Sittings. 

Section 1. Any person failing to meet their pew rent 
for six months, when the pew renting system shall have 
been adopted, and the Board of Trustees have satisfied 
themselves of the same, shall be declared delinquent and 
the pew shall be declared vacant and placed upon the 
list of pews to rent. 

Article XII. — Order of Business. 

Section 1. This order of business shall be adhered to 
at each stated meeting: 
1st. Prayer, 

2nd. Reading of minutes, 
3rd. Report of officers, 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



117 



4th. Report of committees, 

5th. Reading of bills, 

6th. Reading of communications, 

7th. Unfinished business, 

8th. New business, 

9th. Miscellaneous matter, 

10th. Adjournment. 

Article XIIJ. 

Section 1. Five members of the Board of Trustees 
shall constitute a quorum. 

Article XIV. 

Section 1. These rules may be amended at any reg- 
ular meeting of the Board of Trusteees by a majority 
of two-thirds of the members of the Board; provided, 
that notice of said amendment shall have been given at 
a previous stated meeting, and sent to every member 
of the Board. 

The Session of the Berean Presbyterian Church. 
Rer. Matthew Anderson, Moderator. 
James Porter, Henry Jones, Elders. 
Samuel E. Wooding, Clerk. 

The Elders are elected for a term of three years ac- 
cording to the rotary system. 

The term of office for the respective members of the 
session is as follows: Elder, James Porteir, three years, 
from January 1st, 1897; Elder Henry Jones, two years, 
from January 1st, 1897, and Elder Samuel E. Wooding, 
one year, from January 1st, 1897. 

The regular meeting of the session is held on the third 
Sabbath afternoon, in each month, in the study of the 
church, at four o'clock. 

Services. 

Sabbath — 10:30 a. m., preaching; 2:30 p. m., Sabbath 
School; 7 p. m., Y. P. S. C. E.; 8 p. m., preaching. 



n8 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



Weekly — Wednesday evening 8 o'clock, lecture; Fri- 
day evening 8 o'clock, prayer meeting. Subject, the 
International Sabbath School lesson for the following 
Sabbath. The week of prayer is always observed, and 
the season of our Lord's travail is observed as a special 
time for prayer and meditation. 

Freedmen Reports. 

That the friends may see the state of feeling on the 
part of the Presbyterians of Philadelphia, (which we 
feel was expressive also of the Presbyterians generally,) 
in regard to missionary work among the colored people, 
we append extracts from reports of the Committee on 
Freedmen, which we, as chairman, presented to the Pres- 
bytery of Philadelphia Central for the years 1889, 1890. 
The following is an extract from report for the year 
ending March 31st, 1889: 

"While it is gratifying to know that there has been no 
falling off in the contributions of the churches the past 
year when compared with the preceding, yet the increase 
is so small that it is very evident that the Presbytery 
of Philadelphia Central is not as a whole as keenly alive 
to the pressing demands of the Freedman's Board or 
to the pathetic appeals of the millions at the South for 
help as it ought to be. That this is so it is only necesary 
to compare the contributions of the churches to the 
Freedmen's Board the past year with those of the pre- 
ceding and further to compare the amounts contributed 
during these periods with what was contributed during 
the same time by the Presbytery of Philadelphia. 

The whole amount of money contributed by our Pres- 
bytery last year to the Board of Missions for the Freed- 
men according to the Assembly's Minutes (wihch, by the 
way, gives more to the credit of the Presbytery than the 
report of the Freedmen's Board) was $2,277.00, while 
the year before it was $2,254.00, which shows an increase 
last year over the preceding of only $23.00. Now, if the 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



119 



amount annually contributed by the Presbytery for the 
Southern Work had been large, then there might be some 
excuse for the small increase, but when we find that the 
contributions to missions among the Freedmen for the 
last five years amounted to only $11,023 (the largest 
amount any one year during this time, being $2,344.00 
year ending March 31st, 1895) it is very evident 
that there has not been manifested on the part of the 
great Presbytery of Philadelphia Central that interest 
in the pressing wants of the Freedmen's Board, and 
the great work of uplifting the millions in the South 
that it was their privilege and duty to have shown. 

This may be more clearly seen by a comparison be- 
tween contributions of the Presbytery of Philadelphia 
Central and the Presbytery of Philadelphia during the 
same period. The Presbytery of Philadelphia Central 
contributed to the Board of Missions for Freedmen last 
year, according to the Assembly's minutes $2,277.00, 
while the Presbytery of Philadelphia during the same 
period contributed $4,974.00, or $2,697.00 more than the 
Presbytery of Philadelphia Central. The year before 
there was contributed by the Central Presbytery $2,254.00 
to the Freedmen's Board, while the Presbytery of Phila- 
delphia contributed to the same object in the same time 
$5,223.00, and when there is compared the contributions 
of the two Presbyteries for the last five years it is found 
that the Presbytery of Philadelphia has given $13,459.00 
more than the Presbytery of Philadelphia Central, the 
Presbytery of the Philadelphia Central giving in that 
time $11,023.00 while the Presbytery of Philadelphia gave 
in the same time $24,482.00. This is further seen when 
the churches are taken pro rata. There are 35 churches 
of the Presbytery of Philadelphia against 39 in the Pres- 
bytery of Philadelphia Central. According to the As- 
sembly's report, the Presbytery of Philadelphia Central 
contributed this last year $58.35 per church, while in the 
same time the Presbytery of Philadelphia contributed 



120 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



$142. 1 1 per church, or $83.76 more per church than the 
Presbytery of Philadelphia Central. 

Now what does all this show? It shows that we are 
not awake as a Presbytery to our duty in regard to the 
Freedmen in the South. 8,000,000 of people who are 
removed but twenty-five years from slavery and, who 
when emancipated were absolutely naked in more senses 
than one, being not merely devoid of the necessaries of 
life, food and raiment, but those higher and nobler quali- 
ties which go to make up the true man and citizen de- 
mand the assistance of the State, but more particularly 
the church, and no church, especially in this land can 
conscientiously exempt itself from giving of its 
means to assist in the great work of carrying on mis- 
sions and schools among them. The work of the up- 
lifting of these millions of brethren, from the degrada- 
tion into which they have fallen as the result of slavery 
is given to the church, and this is not of man's direc- 
tion, but the Providence of God, for nothing is plainer 
than the hand of God is in the uplifting of the 
Freedmen. For no other people, who, for two hun- 
dred and fifty years, had been under a worse than a 
Egyptian bondage, having been bought and sold, brutal- 
ized and tortured as no other people ever were, a people 
who were thought by many to be only a little higher than 
the brute, and who had therefore no capacity for an 
education, could have shown such a thirst for knowledge 
and such an aptitude for books, if God were not with 
them. Churches and schools and even colleges have 
sprung up as if by magic, so that the questions which 
were olten asked and discussed in our pulpits, whether 
the Negro had any capacity to learn, whether he could 
master the rudiments of an English education, and fi- 
nally whether he could be taught the classics are among 
the mooted questions of the past. No one now ques- 
tions the capacity of the Negro to learn. That he has 
a mind capable of receiving, assimilating and expanding 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



121 



infinitely, as other men, is the honest verdicUof all who 
have given the subject any serious attention. 

The highly religious nature of the Negro has always 
been admitted. Indeed, so genrally has it been ac- 
cepted, that it was employed by his enemies, to his de- 
gradation. His long and cruel servitude, his submission 
to cruel wrongs have been principally due to his being 
taught that slavery was divine, that to strike for free- 
dom, would be to incur the anger of God, that he had 
been cursed to be a servant of servants unto his brethren, 
that the blessing of God should dwell upon Shem, but 
Canaan should be his servant; God should enlarge 
Japheth and he should dwell in the tents of Shem, but 
Canaan should be his servant, thus holding up the 
curses of one who awaked from a drunken debauch as 
having divine sanction in order not merely to justify 
slavery, but also to make the slave submissive to his 
bonds; as if the curse of Canaan had anything to do 
with the Negro or that Negroes were the descendants 
of the Canaanites. How the Negro could remain loyal 
to God and to the Scriptures as taught in the Bible with 
such religious teachers as these as his guide is one of 
the marvels of our time. 

May it not be that God in his Allwise Providence has 
a higher and nobler mission for this despised race than 
has yet been generally conceded? May it not be that 
from the unfathomed mines beneath the black bosom of 
the Negro are yet to be drawn the highest conception 
of the religion of Christ and that by him is to be kept 
pure and simple that faith and that life vouchsafed to 
the people of God? 

May it not be that the Negro who is represented as 
the descendant of Canaan instead of being the servant 
of servants to Shem and Japheth, is yet to be their re- 
ligious teacher as well as the consecrated instrument 
predestined by God to meet, refute and destroy the skep- 
tic, materialistic, and the atheistic arguments which are 



122 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



assailing the church of God to-day, and are making un- 
steady the foundation and hope of many? It is only 
by conceiving that the Negro is destined for some such 
high purpose as this, that his unswerving faith in God 
and in his Word can reasonably be accounted for. With 
these two elements in his favor, aptness to learn and faith 
in God, if properly guided, there may be hoped for the 
Negro the greatest possibilities. 

Now the work of bringing about these possibilities, 
God has given to His church. To the Christian men 
and women is given the work of educating and Chris- 
tianizing, and the lifting up to a high and noble man- 
hood the Negro of the South. Therefore no one can 
say "Pray have me excused," for being commissioned 
by God for this specific work, it is not for you or for 
me to say how long we will work, nor to what extent 
it shall be carried on, but to follow faithfully the guid- 
ing hand of Providence in the carrying on of the work 
there. And here let me say the Presbyterian Church 
has a special work to perform among the Freedmen of 
the South and I might say also in the North. No 
church is so well calculated to correct the faults of the 
Negro, and to broaden and strengthen his manhood 
as the Presbyterian Church and no church should do 
more towards his elevation than this church. 

In the first place the Presbyterian Church appeals 
to his understanding as well as to his feelings. It makes 
him think and prevents him from being carried away 
by his feelings, which is one of his natural tendencies 
as well as dangers. 

Secondly the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, 
as taught by the Presbyterian Church is what the Negro 
needs to correct his tendencies to regard religion simply 
as an influence, instead of a life, which was exemplified 
by Christ and which is to be lived as well as to be taught 
by his disciples. 

Thirdly, the government of the Presbyterian Church 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



123 



is what the Negro needs to teach him self-government 
and respect for authority and to correct his tendency to 
rule, one of the main errors which he imbibed from his 
schooling under a slave system which can only be cor- 
rected by the clear and forcible teaching of Christ. 

Fourthly, the great Presbyterian Church, with all of 
its paraphernalia, its wonderful history, its martyred 
dead, its mines of scholarly lore, — the accumulation of 
ages — its adherents to right and truth as taught in the 
Word of God and its fidelity to the cardinal truths of 
the Gospel, is what the Negro needs to guide him, to 
correct him, to steady him, to hold him from flying off 
into error, and to give him that dignity and strength of 
character as well as the proper incentives for his emula- 
tion, that he may be developed in all of the nobler quali- 
ties of his being and thus be fitted to occupy that sphere 
in the world's history which God and nature have de- 
creed that he shall. 

But it is said that it is not right for the church to ex- 
pend money, in carrying on missions among a people who 
are of a highly excitable nature, being principally Meth- 
odists and Baptists, in their tendencies, and who there- 
fore, do not sufficiently adhere to the Presbyterian 
Church to justify the outlay of money, in their behalf. 

If this were true of the Negro it would not justify the 
position, but it is not true, it is not borne out in the 
history of the church; for it is not the position which 
the church has taken in her work of missions among 
other people. Her missionary enterprises for example in 
India, in Syria, in China, in Japan and among the Isles 
of the Sea were carried on for years before there were any 
very satisfactory evidences that they would succeed, and 
where they are succeeding, the success, looking at it 
financially is not commensurate with the amount of 
money expended in carrying them on, and yet the church 
has never thought that it was a foolish expenditure of 
money in carrying on these missions. 



124 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



But even if it were true that the Negro does not take 
to the Presbyterian Church, the Presbyterian Church 
would not be justified in letting him alone. The ques- 
tion for the church to ask is not whether the Negro 
wants the Presbyterian Church, but whether the Pres- 
byterian Church wants the Negro, and whether the 
Presbyterian Church, believing its doctrines to be true 
and its organization to be the most perfect and com- 
plete for the evangelization of the world will obey the 
injunction, "Go ye into all the world and preach the 
Gospel to every creature," and if so will include the 
Negro also. The question for the Presbyterian Church 
to consider is whether there are in it those correcting 
forces which will make, the Negro a better man and citi- 
zen. 

But it is not true that the Negro does not take to the 
Presbyterian Church. The fact that in less than twenty 
years the Presbyterian Church has organized by its 
Board of Missions to the Freedmen, six Presbyteries and 
a Synod among the Freedmen, embracing 237 churches, 
116 ministers and 17,480 communicants, 1349 having 
been received on confession of faith, this last year, also 83 
schools with a membership of 11,175 does not look as if 
the Freedmen of the South do not take to the Presby- 
terian Church. The truth is, the Negro gives as hearty 
adherence to the church as he is encouraged to give. 
Let the cry go out that the church is not adapted to a 
people, this of itself will affect the action of the church 
towards that people, and on the other hand, the inter- 
est of the people towards the church. But the fact that 
there have been organized 237 churches within the last 
24 years in the South alone among the colored people, 
with a membership of 17,480 is a sufficient argument that 
the churches of the North should give largely of their 
means to enable the Board of Missions to carry on its 
good work among the Freedmen. 

MATTHEW ANDERSON, Chairman of Committee. 
Philadelphia, 1889. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



125 



The Following is an Extract From the Report of 1890. 

When your committee reported last year an increase 
in the contributions of the Presbytery to the work 
among the Freedmen of only $23.00 it was with the sin- 
cere hope that there would be made a decided increase 
this year. But instead of there being a decided increase 
there has been a decided decrease. Instead of there 
being an increase of only $23.00 there has been a de- 
crease of over $783.00. Instead of the Presbytery taking 
a more lively interest in the pressing demands of the 
Freedmen's Board and the pathetic appeals of the mil- 
lions in the South for aid, not necessarily material, but 
intellectual and spirtual aid, not aid in the securing of 
homes and food and raiment, but in the securing of in- 
tellectual and moral instruction, and in rescuing from 
the wreck of slavery, the defaced and mutilated image 
of the Divine Master, aid in the securing of spelling 
books and bibles, teachers, schools and churches and 
thus gradually lift up to a nobler man and womanhood — ■ 
we say that instead of the Presbytery responding more 
heartily to these pressing demands of the Freedmen's 
Board, there has been shown less interest than hitherto. 

Judging from the contributions of the churches it 
would seem that we are as a Presbytery quite oblivious 
or deaf to the wants of the South. 

But dear friends this subject is too vital to be given 
only a passing glance, we therefore ask in all sincerity 
why this apparent apathy on the part of the churches, 
and this great Presbytery towards the work among the 
Freedmen? 

Is it that the churches and the Presbytery have never 
been properly aroused on the subject? No not that, 
for a glance at the minutes of the past will show that 
the churches once contributed grandly towards this 
work, and that the Presbytery of Philadelphia Central 
was regarded as one of the most interested in mission 
work among the Freedmen. 



126 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



Is it that the work is thought to be a failure? No 
not that, for nothing could be more absurd than to de- 
clare a work a failure which is attended with such ex- 
cellent results, and which every branch of the Christian 
Church South as well as North, is vying with each other 
to carry on. Mission work among the Freedmen a 
failure, a people who yesterday were absolutely naked, 
physically and intellectually, to-day the owners of ($263,- 
000,000) two hundred and sixty-three millions in cash. 
Yesterday ignorant of the alphabet and the most rudi- 
mentary fragments of knowledge, to-day having a mil- 
lion and a half of their children attending the public 
schools, and sixteen thousand teachers of their own 
race laboring in the South alone? , 

Moreover having established among them more than 
fifty colleges and universities from which are graduated 
annually over fifteen hundred young men and women 
in the various departments of study, and who are filling 
the different professions as creditably and as well as the 
same class of graduates of any other race, besides many 
colored youths are being educated in the best colleges 
and universities in this and other lands, of whom their 
teachers tell us that they do their work as thoroughly 
and as well, and that their moral and intellectual stand- 
ard is as high as their more favored companions. 

Is it that because of the rapid increase of education 
in the South among the Freedmen that it is felt that 
there is not the demand for assistance on the part of the 
North as formerly? No, not that, for notwithstanding 
the common school is being rapidly multiplied in the 
South, and that sixteen thousand trained men and women 
of the race are being employed as teachers among them ; 
notwithstanding that a million and a half of colored 
youth are now in regular attendance at the common 
schools, and that nearly one-half of the entire colored 
population of over eight millions can read and write, 
notwithstanding that representatives of the Freedmen 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



127 



are occupying positions as presidents and professors in 
Classical Institutions where the highest culture is being 
taught, that members of the legal profession have been 
admitted to the highest bar of the nation, and that there 
are physicians who have won a national reputation, and 
ministers among the most eloquent in the land yet it 
is an obvious fact that illiteracy is increasing among 
the Freedmen of the South, and this not because the 
people do not take to education or avail themselves of 
the opportunities provided for their improvement, not 
that those who attend school, afterward retrograde and 
become more illiterate, as is claimed by some of our 
wise theorists, but it is because the demand is greater 
than the supply. 

If all the children of the Freedmen of school age were 
to-day provided with adequate school facilities next year 
255,500 children would be knocking at the door for the 
first time for admission to be taught their letters. This 
growing army of illiterates is a menace to the home, 
a menace to the church, a menace to the free institutions 
which are the pride and boast of our land. 

What then is the cause of the apathy on the part of the 
churches and the Great Presbytery of Philadelphia Cen- 
tral towards the work of our church among the Freed- 
men in the South? Is it that the work of our church 
among the Freedmen is a failure? No not that, what! 
a work a failure which 25 years ago had not a single 
church organization among the Freedmen while now 
there are 245 Presbyterian Churches, 785 schools, 117 
colored Presbyterian preachers and 133 colored teach- 
ers? 

The Presbyterian Church among the Freedmen a fail- 
ure when there have been added to the colored churches 
under the Board since 1870, 22,253 on profession, 4,268 
by certificate, making a total of 26,521? While during 
the 25 years just ended not less than 32,165 Freedmen 
have enrolled themselves under the Presbyterian banner 



128 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



and who are as true and as loyal to the standards of the 
grand old church as any who came from Ulster or the 
land of Knox? 

It is said that the Presbyterian Church among the 
Freedmen or colored people never presents a healthy 
growth or developes into a strong and independent 
organization, being thoroughly equipped to do aggres- 
sive work for the Master, as is the case with the Metho- 
dist and Baptist Churches among them. It is a foolish 
expenditure of money say they, to attempt to make of 
them Presbyterians, because the Negro is not indigen- 
ous to Presbyterian soil, that he has to be transplanted 
and before he becomes acclimatized notwithstanding 
every care was taken to preserve his life, he sickens, 
decays and dies, while in the native soil he grows spon- 
taneously into churches and not only lives but thrives 
with little or no effort. But in regard to this it depends 
wholly on what is taken as the standard of success, if 
numbers instead of worth, or quantity instead of quality 
then we think at present at least it would be proper 
to conclude that the Negro does not take to the Pres- 
byterian Church. But my friends we must go deeper 
than this to find the cause of this apathy on the part 
of the Presbytery of Philadelphia Central towards the 
work among the Freedmen. 

The cause is deeper and more vital than these seem- 
ing objections which we have mentioned. The cause 
we fear is due wholly to a wrong course of reasoning 
concerning mission work among the colored people and 
from which the Presbyterian Church has not been en- 
tirely exempt. 

It has been the policy of most Mission Boards in their 
work among Negroes whether in this country or abroad 
to proceed on the principle of the superior to the infer- 
ior, the eminently high to the almost hopelessly low, 
to a people who were naturally inferior and who could 
never be brought to the same high position of thought 



The Late PHINEAS M. BARBER, 
of Philadelphia, 
Who bequeathed his large estate to the Trustees of the General 
Assembly to constitute a fund, the interest of which should 
be used "for the erection of churches and the maintaining 
of needy ministers of the Presbyterian congregations of 
colored people in the United States." 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



129 



and respectability enjoyed by their teachers. This 
policy has greatly influenced the actions of these Boards 
and it has done much to retard their labors of love, and 
it is one chief cause why those churches, which are not 
influenced by this policy are numerically, certainly, more 
successful than those under the Boards in question. And 
it is the chief cause of the disquietude and want of con- 
fidence on the part of these respective Boards which 
have been from time to time exhibited in their work 
among the the Freedmen or wherever they are engaged 
in work among the Negroes whether in this coun- 
try or abroad ; and it also is the cause of the want of con- 
fidence which is often felt on the part of the people- 
themselves towards these Boards. 

Let the standard be low which a teacher sets for his 
pupils, and he will prove himself a prodigy, should he 
advance beyond that standard; let the standard be low 
which the Missionary Boards set for the Negro or the 
mould in which they would shape him be cramped and 
narrow, and unnatural, and unless there is in him more 
than ordinary force of character they will make of him 
a poor weak, sick, shadowy creature having no force 
or vitality upon which to stand. 

There has been too much pity and too little love ex- 
hibited for the Negro by the great Boards of the 
Church; too much done to make him feel his degrada- 
tion, the great distance between him and his teachers, 
and too little to make him feel that he is a man and a 
brother, that their destiny is one, and that his Saviour 
and their Saviour is no respecter of persons. 

Some of the Boards have discovered their error, and 
are rectifying their mistake and as a result the disquie- 
tude and unrest, the want of confidence which has been 
so greatly perplexing their work is rapidly giving way 
to confidence and right Christian feeling, and their work 
among Freedmen which for the time being was at a 
stand still and in doubt of succeeding is now moving 
9 



13° 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



grandly forward and as a result both in the Boards and 
upon the field a healthy condition is exhibited through- 
out. Notably among these Boards is the American 
Missionary Association, and the Freedmen's Aid and 
Southern Educational Society of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church. 

These organizations see the wisdom and the justice 
of according to the Negro the same rights which they 
accord to themselves and as a result their work is mov- 
ing grandly forward and bespeaks for them a great and 
glorious harvest. The magnificent colleges and uni- 
versitie: such as Fisk, Atlanta and Clark, the Tennessee 
Central, the Claflin and a score of others of almost equal 
celebrity which these organizations are carrying on 
among the Freedmen, the professors of which are not be- 
ing confined merely to the dominant race, but of white 
men and black men, and of white women and black 
women of distinguished piety and education are as 
beams of golden sunlight in a dark land, and they are 
doing more to strengthen the manhood of the Negro 
and to solve that perplexing and much mooted prob- 
lem "The Negro Question," than all the blatant speeches 
and theories concerning the Negro combined. May it 
not be that it is here where the Presbyterian Church 
needs to learn wisdom? That she is doing a grand 
and noble work among the Freedmen of the South no 
one can deny. 

The sacrifices which our good people have been mak- 
ing for the last 25 years to Christianize and evangelize 
the Freedmen have been most praiseworthy, but if the 
grand old church would but stoop a little lower and 
suffer the warmth from her to thaw out, and impart new 
vigor to her brother in black. If he would but scrutinize 
him more closely, and find that beneath his 
black skin he has a big, noble, loving heart, 
that within his black breast he has feelings as 
tender and as sensitive as any other man, that 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



beneath his woolly head he has a brain which 
can be kindled and made to burn as brightly and as 
continuously as the brain of the most favored; in a word 
that he is a man though through extrinsic forces alone 
he has been pressed down to a lower plane than some, 
that he has all the natural qualities and God given pow- 
ers of other men, we say, should the grand old Pres- 
byterian Church only imbibe more of the spirit of the 
Master and stoop a little lower and see the Negro as he 
is, in order to lift him to a higher and more independ- 
ent plane, she too would change her theory of laboring 
in his behalf, and there would be seen in her colleges 
and universities established for the education of the 
Negro, both white and black professors, laboring side 
by side as one for his upbuilding, and then instead of 
having 245 churches among the Freedmen we would 
have a thousand; then instead of having 26,531 com- 
municants we would have a hundred thousand, and 
then the grand old church would move majestically 
forward, and would soon occupy the position to which 
she rightly belongs, the most successful and invincible 
division of the Army of the Lord." 

Most respectfully submitted, 

Matthew Anderson, Chairman of Committee. 

The following clipping on the report is from the Pres- 
byterian Banner of October 29th, 1890: 

"Last week at an adjourned meeting of Central Pres- 
bytery the Report of the Committee on Freedmen elic- 
ited more than usual interest. The Chairman of that 
committee is Rev. Matthew Anderson, pastor of the 
Berean Church, an enterprise among the colored people 
in the northern part of the city that is doing a great 
work for the Redeemer. We feel that God has called 
Mr. Anderson to do a great work, and that he is wisely 
and ably doing it, of which we may again speak." 



PART SECOND. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
REV. MATTHEW ANDERSON. 



REV. MATTHEW ANDERSON. 



CHAPTER X. 



Guided by an Over-Ruling Providence. 

We wish in the beginning to say that we sincerely 
hope that no one on reading the foregoing pages will 
be led to infer from anything that has been written that 
we wish to take to ourselves the credit of whatever 
measure of success the work has attained; on the 
contrary we believe in regard to the work of the Berean 
Church that over it, and behind it, and in it is God and 
to him only is due the credit of its success and that 
we have been used simply as the humble instrument in 
carrying out his purposes and plans. 

Indeed we can see now as we have never seen before 
that we have been guided by an over ruling Providence, 
not only in our work here, but in all of our preparation 
for the work of the ministry, and this special work in par- 
ticular from the time we left home as a student until we 
arrived in Philadelphia and took charge here. „ Every 
step we made meandering through our journey has been 
through the different schools, writing an Outline History 
for the American Missionary Association of their 
Mendian work, soliciting and lecturing in behalf of the 
same association in the West, supplying one of the old- 
est Congregational Churches in New Haven, Conn., at 
the same time taking a post graduate course at Yale, all 
of this experience was a special preparation though un- 
known to ourselves for the work of Berean Church. u 

Desire for an Education. 

We can recall as of yesterday the craving desire we 
had, as a youth on the farm, for an education. There 
was no privation which we were not willing to undergo, 
no exertions we would not gladly make could we only 

i35 



136 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



be given the opportunity to obtain an education; and 
this craving thirst, this longing desire arose, not from 
a selfish ambition, the mere satisfaction of being edu- 
cated, but that we might be prepared to accomplish 
the very most possible for God and humanity, espec- 
ially in lifting the standard of the race with which we 
were identified, and which for two hundred and fifty 
years had been and was still being, so greatly wronged. 
We had no thought of the ministry then, nor, of any 
of the learned professions. The thought that was upper 
most in our minds, the thought which burned within 
our very soul), was^ that we might be permitted under 
God to do a work that would establish the equal man- 
hood of the Negro, and stamp to the earth the thought 
of his inferiority, as well as the slangs and imputations 
which were being hurled at him by an unreasonable and 
thoughtless nation, whose boasted land, the land of 
liberty, was theirs as a legacy from the Pilgrim fathers. 
This was the primordial cause, the chief motive of our 
desiring an education. It was this cause that induced 
us, in our eighteenth year, to leave home almost penni- 
less for_ Iberia College, Ohio, being denied admission 
to the institutions of learning in our native State of 
Pennsylvania,, where our grand sires had lived in colon- 
ial days, and their descendants to the fifth generation. 
And where for more than one hundred and fifty years 
our family, both on our father'* and mother's side have 
been staunch Presbyterians. 

I It was this desire to be equipped to do yeomanry ser- 
vice for God and hunmanity that made us then a mere 
youth to be forgetful of ourselves, and utterly oblivious 
to the fingers of ridicule and scorn pointed at us because 
of our race, color or condition or possibly because of 
our verdant looks, as we were fresh from the green fields 
and shady dells of old Franklin county, in the Cumber- 
land Valley. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



137 



The Writer Enters Iberia College, Ohio. 

We can see ourselves now as we looked then; a tall, 
angular, gawky youth, shouldering our trunk at the 
Iberia Station, which was a mile from the college and 
bearing it aloft to the college door with as much con- 
scious independence as if it had been a trophy won, or 
garland of victory gained in some manly contest. The 
three years which we spent in this Institution were most 
eventful, they were the basal years of our life, in that 
they gave to it shape, character, and directness by which 
we have been enabled to withstand all the vicissitudes 
and changes through which we have passd. 
£/ The atmosphere of Iberia was just the kind we needed, 
free, independent, critical, inviting, and healthful to the 
honest seeker after knowledge and truth, whether he 
were white or black, while it was death to the scoundrel 
and knave whatever his color or creed. Then too, the 
sentiment of the place was strongly opposed to slavery, 
and the slave traffic, which was natural since the Institu- 
tion was a split from the college of New Athens, Ohio, 
on the subject of slavery and that one of its founders, 
James Gordon, had suffered an imprisonment in jail 
in Cleveland, Ohio, for a year for countenancing the 
flogging of a Southern slave hunter on the streets of 
Iberia. With a man of such pronounced views, as the 
Rev. James Gordon, at its head, it is not strange that 
the Institution would be strongly anti-slavery, and that 
the same sentiment would pervade the entire com- 
munity. It was in an Institution like this, and among 
such friends and sympathizers we began our education 
and received that fixedness of principle and character 
which have guided us all through, life up to the present. 

Character of the College. 

The internal life of the Institution was just what was 
needed to be the most helpful to us in this stage of our 
advancement. The students were all plain country 



138 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



boys, with but two or three exceptions whose fathers, 
for the most part, were plain, honest farmers. The only 
exception being, three colored gentlemen, brothers from 
the South, whose white fathers had settled them in Ohio 
and sent them to Iberia to be educated. These gentle- 
men were the dudes of the place, in dress, manners, and 
influence. None of the students appeared so elegant 
or so Chesterfieldian or courtly in their manners or were 
as popular as they. 

Dressed in faultless broad cloth, with canes and beav- 
ers, or riding out into the country on their blooded 
steeds, they were the heroes of the place, and were gen- 
erally admired and courted by their fellow students. 
We too, did not disdain to earn a few dollars a month 
to assist in our schooling by taking care of the horse 
of one of these gentlemen. With this exception we 
were all plain country boys and girls who had been 
carefully brought up at hard work in the country and 
who had but little money, but who were filled with a 
determined purpose to secure an education that would 
fit us for future usefulness. The professors too, were 
plain, earnest men, but men of pristine character, and 
who were a living protest against that vicious public 
sentiment which is guided in its treatment of men by 
the accidents of birth or their racial eccentricities, and 
not by the life and character of fL man or men. 

The Faculty and students of Iberia College formed a 
little community among themselves, they had in fact 
a community of interests among themselves which was 
most beautiful. The students did not, it is true, sell 
their few possessions and lay the price down at the pro- 
fessors' feet, but it was no uncommon thing to see a 
student clad in a professors' frock coat, delivering his 
oration, or a professor making his way to the train to 
meet an engagement wrapped in a student's overcoat. 
The first time we had seen how elegant our spank new 
brown overcoat looked was when on a professors' back, 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



139 



who had borrowed it to wear to one of the neighboring 
towns where he had an engagement to preach. Both 
the professors and students were poor. But few of the 
latter were able to board, most of them boarded them- 
selves, doing their own cooking. The three years 
that we were there we ate but one meal in a boarding 
house and this one was on the evening of our arrival 
at the institution. And yet in all of our student life we 
were never better contented nor happier than we were 
there. There were no spacious college buildings, well 
appointed recitation rooms, artistically laid out fend 
smoothly shorn campus at Iberia. The students for the 
most part lived in very plainly furnished rooms, most 
of them without carpet or any ornaments and yet plain 
as their surroundings and fare were, they accomplished 
more solid work in one term than the students in many 
another Institution with higher sounding names do in 
two. And the reason was there was nothing in or about 
Iberia to divert the mind from study. 

Play houses, whiskey saloons, questionable resorts of 
any kind, were not allowed in the neighborhood of the 
college, and the students belonging to a class of young 
people who had never become contaminated with these 
things they had nothing to do but study, and study they 
did. 

Pranks of the Students. 

But we would not give the impression that the stu- 
dents at Iberia were angels, neither were they saints in 
the commonly accepted sense of the term, but like most 
students they were up to all the pranks common to 
college life. It was no uncommon thing, for example, 
on coming to our room to find the table standing upon 
the bed all nicely arranged, spread with cloth, dishes, 
knives and forks, but with no signs of food except salt, 
and with a very polite note that supper or dinner, as the 
case might be, was ready, and to sit up and help our- 



140 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



selves. At other times on coming to our room we would 
find, especially when we would spring into bed, that the 
rope or slats were gone, and we would be obliged to 
spend the night in an incumbent position, our 
head and heels at an angle of 45 degrees. 
But we would feel ourselves fortunate to have a bed 
for not unfrequently the miscreant would carry off bed 
and bedding, not leaving even the slats; or on getting 
into our beds to find that the contents of our water pails 
had been emptied into them during our absence. 

One of the meanest pranks that we can recall was 
played upon one who was a candidate for the ministry. 
The boys thought he was too good, and that he needed 
an airing. It was in the dead of winter and the night 
was very cold and dark. So they stole his bed and 
clothing and carried them up into the belfry where they 
remained for several weeks before being discovered. 
But still a worse prank had been played upon a farmer. 
The farmer had gotten as far as Iberia with a load of 
wheat on his way to the granary and stopped for the 
night. The boys concluded that it would be a practical 
joke to place the wagon astride the comb of the college 
roof, no sooner suggested than it was decided to carry it 
out. At a given hour in the night a score of stalwart 
youths went to work with a will, and by the first streaks 
of early morn their work was completed to perfection. 
All the bags of wheat were placed on the wagon as be- 
fore, even to the propping up of the tongue. All 
stood high and dry on the roof of the college. Suffice 
it to say the farmer did not leave that morning. 
~ Another prank which the boys were very much given 
to was foraging, which took place always in the night. 
The kind and quantity of booty which they would bring 
home from these raids, beggars description; milk, but- 
ter, eggs, chickens, ducks, geese, and turkeys, together 
with smoked bacon, were included among the loot. 
The most tempting prize, however, was poultry, for they 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



141 



were sure of having a feast long to be remembered, if 
they could only succeed in capturing a few slick, fat 
country hens or turkeys, the very thought of which 
filled them with delightful anticipations. There were 
a few exceptions, however, among the students, who 
could not be induced under any circumstances to go 
on one of these foraging expeditions, because it was 
wrong. One of these was a student by the name of 
Allen. Allen was one of the oldest students in the In- 
stitution, he was a capital fellow, affable, generous, live- 
ly, but very religious, being an earnest Baptist and by 
profession a cook. He thought it was very wrong to 
go out and steal chickens, and many earnest lectures 
would the boys get from him about their wickedness. 
But the strangest thing about it all was while Allen 
would not go with the boys he had no misgiving what- 
ever about cooking the fowls when they were brought 
in. Many a night could the boys be seen in his room 
feasting sumptuously on chicken, turkey or duck which 
had been cooked in the most appetizing way as only 
Allen could, and he eating as heartily as any. This 
student is now the Rev. John Allen, D. D., pastor of 
the First Colored Baptist Church of Baltimore, Mary- 
land, where he has been for twenty-five years and has 
done a most excellent work for Christ and humanity. 
There was one other student who was very conscien- 
tious along this line and his name was Matthew An- 
derson. 

Ambitious to Lead the Class. 

Never in all our life did we work harder as a student 
than we did at Iberia. Sensitive of the charge of the 
inferiority of the Negro we felt that this was our oppor- 
tunity to brand as a lie this slur by establishing his intel- 
lectual quality, at least in this Institution. Conse- 
quently we exerted ourselves to the extreme tension, 
studying many a night until daylight. Our standing 



142 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



was necessarily high, above the average, but we were 
ambitious to stand higher than any student in the col- 
lege. The professors took an interest in the contest and 
urged us forward, especially Prof. Helfrich, who en- 
couraged all ambitious students to take advanced strides 
especially in mathematics which was his chair. Before 
the end of the first year all in a class of over a score 
had dropped back but one besides the writer. Try as 
we would, we could not get ahead of this one, for two 
years we met together regularly and recited but in all 
that time we were not able to stand equal with, much 
less surpass our contestant. In time we completed the 
course, but before parting we had, the mortification of 
acknowledging that here was one white person who 
could surpass a Negro, at least in mathematics, and 
that one was a woman. We therefore chivalrously ad- 
mitted our defeat and bowing low before her, we handed 
"Miss Hoss" an unfurled banner on which was in- 
scribed "Excelsior." 



CHAPTER XI. 



Entered Oberlin College. 

The three years spent at school in Iberia only excited 
in us a greater craving for knowledge. Our ambition 
now was to take a course in some good first class col- 
lege, and we went so far as to write to Harvard, but 
when we considered the cost and our poverty, we 
abandoned the thought and resolved to take a course at 
Oberlin College. 

While Oberlin was not supposed to rank with Yale, 
Harvard or Princeton, we had a greater veneration for 
it than we had for these Institutions or for any one of 
the Eastern Colleges because of the stand it had taken 
in regard to the Negro, being the first College to throw 
open its doors for him to enter. 

First Impression of Oberlin. 

We will never forget our impression on entering 
Oberlin. We had heard so much about the place, the 
causes which led to the founding of the College, the 
preaching of Charles G. Finney, the deep tone of piety 
which pervaded the atmosphere, the crowds of students, 
etc., that we had come to regard Oberlin as the one 
spot which could be truly called holy ground. And if 
we had seen on our first view of the town, a halo of 
glory hanging over the place as described in the writings 
of the old monks, as having encircled the brow of our 
Lord and His Apostles, we would not have been sur- 
prised. Everything about the place was to us most 
interesting, the town, the people, the students, the 
churches, everything in fact wore an enchanted look. 
Never had we seen such crowds of students, or heard 
such eloquent and logical sermons, nor had we seen 

i43 



144 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



such multitudes attend church. We were bewildered, 
surprised, lost in wonderment; in fact, lost in the great 
multitude, in contrast with what had been our exper- 
ience at Iberia. There we were known, respected, ad- 
mired, lionized. Here we were unknown, unnoticed, 
and unflattered. There we ranked as a scholar, 
here there were many in our class who were 
superior to us in point of scholarship. We could 
not have gone to a school which was better calcu- 
lated to knock all conceit out of us, and at the same 
time keep us from becoming discouraged than Oberlin. 
The religious tone of the College which impressed every 
student diverted our thoughts from ourselves to others, 
and hence it gave us a wider and a more charitable view 
of men and things, and more character and directness 
of purpose to our efforts and aims. 

We would remark here, that while every one must 
admit that the small College is a great blessing to this 
country, yet the student is in danger of being inflated 
with conceit, especially if he ranks in his class. And 
the reason is the number of students being small his 
range of intellectual vision is correspondingly 
small, because the number of students with which he 
necessarily compares himself is small and limited. 
Consequently when he enters the world it is with false 
views of himself and of his ability, and as a result he is 
very often a failure, whereas he might have been a suc- 
cess. This is the case of many who stood above the 
average in these Colleges. Therefore, if there is one 
thing more than another for which we are grateful in 
having been led to Oberlin, it is, that it saved us from 
undue conceit; and yet we would have been a failure 
at Oberlin had we not gone first to Iberia. 

Our Experience at Oberlin. 

Our experiences at Oberlin while interesting, were 
in many respects most trying. In the first place it cost 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



145 



a great deal more to attend school there than at Iberia, 
while our resources were not proportionately increased. 
We were therefore compelled, as at Iberia, to depend 
principally upon manual labor for support. Two hours 
a day for five days, and one whole day each week were 
given to manual labor. The work we did was most 
varied, viz.: On the farm, in the dairy, on the public 
highway, in the wood-shed, together with coaching 
students for examinations. 

We can see ourselves now as we were often seen then, 
making our way, to some wood pile, either on the col- 
lege campus or along the streets clad in all the habili- 
ments of a country hoosier, overall, stoga boots, slouch 
hat, wood-buck and saw, and walking with as much com- 
posure and independence as any student in Oberlin. 
The fact is we were utterly oblivious to our appearance 
or the criticisms on the part of any of the students in 
regard to our circumstances, on the other hand we look- 
ed with contempt upon those students, who were too 
proud to work but would rather beg their way. There 
were at Oberlin a class of young gentlemen whose fond 
mothers helped to sustain them by the wash tub, who liv- 
ed extravagantly, disdained work, and ridiculed all 
students who worked, but who did not think it belit- 
tling to supply the deficiency of their purses by beg- 
ging. While it was not always convenient to work, 
there was in it that which gave to us at least a sense of 
independence which we loved to feel. 

But the amount of work which was required in order 
to meet our expenses became too great, and finally in- 
interfered seriously with our studies. We could not 
make the progress that we otherwise might have if we 
could have devoted to study our entire time. And be- 
sides we were gradually growing in debt, notwithstand- 
ing the time which we gave to our personal support. 
Being of an exceedingly sensitive and nervous tempera- 
ment these two things, viz., falling in our grade, and 
10 



146 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



growing in debt greatly troubled us. We can feel as we 
felt then the aching brow, the heavy heart, the galling 
disappointment, the anxious fear lest we should be ex- 
posed and disgraced in the eyes of the students, es- 
pecially in the eyes of the Faculty, because of our con- 
dition. Thus we plodded through the Preparatory De- 
partment and entered the College with the class of 1872. 

Lecturing Tour. 

We took the first term of the Freshman year with 
this class, at the end of which, it being vacation, we re- 
solved to try to increase our depleted purse by lecturing. 
Other students had lectured and they gave glowing ac- 
counts of their success, why not we? we reasoned. But 
it had not occurred to us that we were wholly without 
experience not only in lecturing but of the world gen- 
erally, that we had never been away from home until 
we left for school, and therefore knew nothing of the 
world except as we found it in the class room. But 
never daunted we wrote a sophomoric oration on the 
"The Ills of The Day and their Panaceas." Sold our 
old books, and the scant furniture of our room, settled 
up a few small outstanding bills, and armed with our 
oration, with three dollars in our pocket and gripsack and 
umbrella in hand we set out on our first lecturing tour. 
Wishing to travel as economical as possible we walked 
to Wellington, some five miles from Oberlin, where we 
purchased a ticket for Delaware, Ohio. 

It was at this place we looked forward to make our 
debut as an orator. Though the Delawarians had not 
been apprised that they were to be honored with a visit 
from a sophomoric orator from Oberlin, we had no 
doubt but that there would be given us a large and sym- 
pathizing audience immediately on our arrival, and that 
our exchequer would be increased by fifty or a hundred 
dollars as a result. We arrived in Delaware on Satur- 
day morning, having stopped over Friday at Carding- 



MR. TIMOTHY ANDERSON, 



The Father of the Rev. Matthew Anderson, departed this life, 
January, 1878, in his 84th year. 



ITS RELA TION TO THE NEGRO. 



147 



ton, Ohio, with a former classmate and friend. We at 
once called upon several of the official brethren of the 
Churches. But imagine our dismay and chagrin while 
these brethren expressed great sympathy for us and our 
subject they said the way was not clear for a lecture 
in their churches as they were having protracted meet- 
ings. But they very kindly said, after the meetings 
were over they might entertain our lecture. 

Sad Experiences. 

Oh miserere! What were we to do! we had spent the 
greater part of our three dollars to get to Delaware, and 
we had not eaten anything since early that Saturday 
morning at our friend's house at Cardington, and now it 
was Saturday evening. We would not dare to go to 
a boarding house for we had not the money. And we 
were too proud to let our condition be known, not even 
let our friend know it who was a teacher in the town. 
Driven to desperation, we concluded to get back to Ober- 
lin as quickly as possible ; accordingly we purchased a sec- 
ond class ticket to Berea, Ohio, which is 16 miles from 
Oberlin, where we landed at half-past eleven o'clock that 
Saturday night. We had now but fifty cents left. 
Finding that the last train for Oberlin had gone 
and that we would be obliged to remain in Berea 
till morning, we concluded hastily to take the train from 
which we had just alighted and go to Cleveland, which 
was distant from Berea about fifteen miles. We arrived 
in Cleveland at 12 o'clock, midnight, Saturday, with 
the fifty cents still in our pocket, as we were obliged to 
elude the vigilance of the conductor. Here we were 
now, in the heart of a strange city with only 
fifty cents. What we were to do we knew not. We 
thought we might stay in the depot till morning, 
but we were informed that that would not be 
allowed, as the doors would * be closed until 
morning as soon as the last train had gone out, 



148 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



when all persons, not employed, would have to leave 
the depot. What were we to do! We had no money 
to stop at a boarding house, and there were no persons 
who knew us or were known by us in all the city. True 
we had a half uncle, some where in the city, but in our 
bewildered state of mind we could neither think of his 
name nor where he lived. In the mean time we were 
beset by an army of cabmen to take us any where in 
the city. One of these cabmen was especially pressing, 
after learning that we were strangers to the city. He 
knew an excellent boarding house. It was a fine place, 
he said, and cheap, and he would take us to it for fifty 
cents, though we told him we were broken, he still in- 
sisted on our taking his cab. There being no other al- 
ternative we took his cab, and after driving us for twenty 
minutes he came to a halt in front of a large unpreten- 
tious building which was the lodging and boarding 
house. We now handed him 25 cents which we had 
carefully gotten out, the one-half of our possession, when 
we received such an avalanche of imprecations upon our 
head as we had never received before, and only such as 
an old cabman is able to produce. 

The night's lodging cost 25 cents which when paid 
the last cent was gone, never in all of our experience 
before nor since have we felt so utterly forsaken and 
what was worse we were craving for food, really starving, 
when food was everywhere in sight, and we utterly 
powerless to get any, or rather too proud, as yet, to let 
our condition be known. The next morning was the 
Sabbath, and never was there a more beautiful day. 
There was not a cloud in the sky, or the movement of a 
leaf. All nature, in fact, put on an enchanted look. 
The landlord came to inquire whether we wanted break- 
fast. Of course we did, the very question was an ag- 
grevation. The scent of the cooking breakfast gave us 
intense pain. Did we want breakfast? Certainly, we 
were almost dying for something to eat. But we had 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



149 



nothing to pay and therefore not having gotten over 
our false modesty we were compelled to answer in the 
negative, when deep down in our souls we meant "yes." 
Being a Congregationalist for the time being (having 
put our letter in the Second Congregational Church at 
Oberlin while there a student) we concluded to attend 
one of the Congregational Churches, of Cleveland, on 
this bright Sabbath forenoon. 

We first went to Grace Church. The pastor of this 
church was an Oberlin graduate, and his congregation 
was composed of the best educated and most refined 
colored people in the city of Cleveland. There was on 
this particular Sabbath a large audience and the minister 
preached a most impressive sermon, appropriate to the 
communion which was administered at the close. Be- 
fore dismissing the audience the pastor admonished his 
flock to try and imitate their Blessed Lord and Master 
"who being in the form of God thought it not robbery 
to be equal with God. But made himself of no reputa- 
tion and took upon him the form of a servant, and was 
made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion 
as a man, he humbled himself and became obe- 
dient unto death, even the death of the cross. 
Wherefore God has highly exalted him and given 
him a name which is above every name." The 
look of approval on the part of the audience 
showed that they were all in hearty accord with their pas- 
tor and had drank deeply from his sermon. We were 
pleased with the atmosphere of the place and commenced 
to feel that we had met with friends. Indeed we chided 
ourselves for being so faithless as to think that all our 
friends had forsaken us and fled. Why should we not 
here make known our condition? we asked ourselves. 
Are we not all brethren in the Lord? we said. 

Accordingly when the audience was dismissed and 
while the official brethren with the pastor were standing 
about the altar shaking hands with different brethren 



PRESB YTERIA NISM, 



before leaving we went boldly up and told the pastor 
that we were an Oberlin student, a member of the Fresh- 
man class, that we had gone out hoping to raise money 
towards our schooling by lecturing, but not getting any 
engagements we were trying to get back to Oberlin. 
That we were there in the city without a cent of money, 
and what was still worse we had not eaten a mouthful 
of anything since Saturday morning, and as a result 
we were almost starved. We also handed him a letter 
of introduction from President Fairchild of Oberlin Col- 
lege, who recommended us very highly. The brother lis- 
tened to our story and then read the letter, after which 
he took out his purse, scanned over several notes, felt for 
change, then turning to his deacons said, "Brethren this 
young man says he is an Oberlin student, and that he 
is here without money, and has eaten nothing since early 
yesterday morning. Have you anything to give him?" 
The Deacons eyed us most suspiciously, then felt for 
change and answered in the negative. "Young man," 
said the pastor gravely, a great city like this is no place 
for you, I would advise you to get out the city and into 
the country at once." There was not one to give us a 
cent or to offer a morsel of food, of these brethren who a 
moment before seemed so happy, so Christ-like, though 
we were literally starving for bread. If we felt miser- 
able before we were more miserable now, not that the 
agony of hunger was more intense but from the revela- 
tion of the coldness and unmercifulness of the human 
heart even when beating in a Christian breast which we 
had never suspected. Had we been told an hour before 
that such coldness and want of feeling were possible on 
the part of Christian people, especially as exhibited by 
these brethren immediately after partaking of the Lord's 
Supper we would have spurned the assertion as being 
utterly false. But our eyes had not only seen, and ears 
heard but our hearts had been pierced as with a shaft 
which had been hurled by this act. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



We were disposed, however, to explain it away, as 
is generally the case, by their being colored people. 
"These people," we said, "were superficial in their 
religious belief. If it had been a White minister and con- 
gregation of equal reputation and rank the result would 
have been entirely different." 

Driven almost to desperation we resolved to make 
one more attempt to get assistance, at least something 
to eat, for it was now one o'clock Sabbath afternoon and 
we had not eaten anything since early Saturday morn- 
ing. This time we dropped into a large, wealthy, aristo- 
cratic White Church on Euclid avenue, which proved 
to be the Euclid Avenue Congregational Church. We 
took a back seat. These brethren, too, had been par- 
taking of the Lord's Supper and when we entered the 
minister was just giving them his admonitory address. 
We had never before been in such a large and elegantly 
furnished church, nor seen such a richly attired and 
aristocratic looking audience. The music, instrumental 
and vocal was grand, everything about the place, church, 
pastor, people, organ, and singing were heavenly. We 
were enrapt for the moment in wonderment and sur- 
prise. After the audience was dismissed and most of 
the brethren were gone and only the minister and dea- 
cons remained talking about the service in the front of 
the pulpit as in the other church we made bold to go 
up to them and state our condition to the pastor. We 
were really starving and had to throw all our foolish ti- 
midity aside. We told this brother precisely the same 
story we had told the other, even to the showing the let- 
ter of recommendation from President Fairchild. As 
did the former, so did this brother. First he took out 
his pocket book, looked over a roll of bills, then exam- 
ined for change, after which he related our condition to 
his deacons, each one of which said they had nothing 
to give. Then turning he addressed us thus, "Young 
man the city is no place for one who is without work and 



152 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



food. I would advise you to get to the country, where 
you will have plenty of work and wholesome 
food." Exhibiting not only the same spirit as did the 
colored pastor and deacons but expressed it almost in 
the same words. 

As we looked at the action of these brethren we in- 
stinctively asked ourselves the question in the words of 
the apostle John, "Whoso hath this world's goods, and 
seeth his brother have need and shutteth up his bowels, 
of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in 
him?" But we thanked God then, and we have ever 
been grateful to Him since for convincing us that the 
human heart is the same whether its earthly tabernacle 
is white or black or whether it belongs to the aristo- 
cratic or despised of mankind. These brethren advised 
us to go to the country and to the country we went. 

Walked the Railroad Ties to Berea. 

Going to our lodging place we took our grip and um- 
brella and walked the railroad ties to Berea fifteen miles 
distant, reaching there late on that Sabbath afternoon. 
Arriving there we went to the principal hotel and 
asked for a lunch stating that we were broken and had 
not tasted food since early on Saturday. We were very 
politely, but positively, told that they didn't serve 
lunches but that tea would be ready in a few minutes 
and we could be served then. When the gong rang we 
were among the first at the table, and suffice it to say 
the last to arise having eaten, we say it with bated breath, 
as much as any six who sat down with us. When 
through we went up to the proprietor and reminded him 
that we had no money. "No money he roared, what 
right had you to eat in my house?" We meekly replied 
necessity knows no laws of propriety, and at once 
made for the door as his foot was making swift and ex- 
citingly near approaches to our rapidly retreating form. 
After this exciting episode we walked some distance 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



153 



along the track from the station to await the express 
which we hoped would take us to Oberlin. While there 
we became very sick. 

When the express arrived we awaited our chance, and 
when it moved off, as the last car came up to where we 
were standing with grip and umbrella, we sprang on, 
and seated ourselves as comfortably as we could on the 
steps. We had not proceeded far before we were dis- 
covered, and were asked why we were riding on the 
steps, "We are sick," we said. "Sick, yes I see you are" 
he said, with an oath: "You are stealing a ride; you must 
come in or be killed." Seeing that the brakesman had 
a heart in him, notwithstanding his rough exterior, we 
owned up that though sick we were beating our way. 
We told him that we were an Oberlin student and had 
been stranded on a lecturing tour, and we wanted to get 
back to Oberlin. "You must come in, then; for if the 
conductor sees you he will put you off." He then secreted 
us on the train until we got to Oberlin, when he brought 
us out and let us go. Here were three men, two minis- 
ters of the Gospel, one of whom was distinguished for 
his learning and influence, being courted, admired and 
honored, a Trustee of Oberlin College, the other was a 
poor, rough, untutored brakesman; which of these think 
you, exhibited most the spirit of the good Samaritan? 
We had not, literally, fallen among thieves, but we 
doubt whether the man who was found lying on the road 
to Jericho suffered any more from his wounds, which 
had been inflicted by the robbers, than we were suffer- 
ing from the wounds made by these apostles of Christ, 
when we fell into the hands of this good Samaritan on 
the Toledo train. 

The Turning Point. 

This experience was the turning point in our life. In 
fact it was indispensable to our success, our life would 
have been an utter failure if we had not had it. Before 



154 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



this we were exceedingly timid, and overly sensitive of the 
opinions of others in regard to ourselves, besides we 
were proud of our acquirements and native worth. This 
experience broke us all to pieces, it was a literal breaking 
over the wheel and making us new. 

Our friends at Oberlin were surprised to see us back 
so soon, but on learning our experience they both sym- 
pathized with us and laughed heartily at our expense. 
Going to the office the next morning we were surprised 
on receiving a letter from our father in which was twenty 
dollars, and an urgent request that we come home at 
once. Never before had we received a letter which we 
appreciated so highly. Home seemed dear before, but 
much dearer now. The old house and farm and every- 
thing associated with them were objects of endearment 
to us now, as they had never been before. We could 
not pack up and leave soon enough. 

Returned Home. 

Hence within two hours after we received the letter we 
were aboard the train and speeding on the way to our 
home in old Antrim township, Franklin county, Pa. 
We shall never forget our impression on arriving home. 
To say that we were disappointed hardly half expresses 
it. We were hurt, for everything looked strange and 
seemed to be undergoing a change for the worse. What 
the cause was we could not fathom. We soon discov- 
ered, however, that the change which had taken place 
was not so much in the old home as in ourselves. We 
were not the same ignorant, green, gawky country boy 
that we were when we left home for school, five years 
before, as was evident from the fact that we were not 
recognized at first, even by our father when we met, which 
was a source of no little disappointment and grief to 
both. 



CHAPTER XII. 



Went South as a Missionary. 

We remained home for six months. In the mean- 
time having accepted a position as teacher under the 
Board of Freedmen we left in the fall of that year, 1869, 
for the South, and for two years had charge of the Pres- 
byterian School at Salisbury, North Carolina. Our 
experience during these two years was exceedingly in- 
teresting. Indeed these were basal years of our life. 
We had heard much about the South. 

Impressions Made Against Slavery in 
Franklin County, Pa. 

Among the earliest impressions made upon our child- 
ish mind were the tales of horror about the South told 
by the fleeing fugitive as he lay in the secret enclosure 
of my father's house where he was concealed. It was 
during the great storm which burst forth with such rage 
and fury in the late Rebellion, which culminated in the 
abolition of four millions of human chatties that we grew 
up into youth and early manhood. The neighborhood 
in which we were born and brought up was the scene of 
some of the bitterest contentions and engagements both 
before and during the war. 

It was in this community, at Chambersburg, Pa., that 
old Ossawattomie Brown brought his arms and held 
secret councils of war a few nights before his memorable 
attack upon Harper's Ferry which so completely para- 
lyzed the South that it has never fully recovered from it, 
and it was in this neighborhood that several of the se- 
verest and most decisive battles were fought during the 
war, as Bull Run, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, Antie- 

i55 



1 5 6 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



tarn, and Gettysburg. This community, too, was the 
scene of many raids or predatory incursions by the rebels 
during the late Rebellion, by one of which Chambers- 
burg, our county seat, was razed to the ground, and left 
a heap of debris and ruin, all of which kept the people 
in a constant state of fermentation. 

It was among such a people,^surrounded by such in- 
fluences that we were brought up, and of course, when 
we went South we were surcharged with all we had heard 
and seen and read, especially as it was so soon after the 
close of the war. Never have we undertaken anything 
when we were in a higher state of excitement, which 
arose, not from any fear of personal harm, for this we 
never had, but from a feverish desire to see and to know 
for ourselves. We had heard much about the South, the 
country the people, the state of morals, the cotton fields, 
the rice swamps, the whipping posts, the slave pens, the 
cabins, the swarms of colored people and their wrongs. 

First Impressions of the South. 

We therefore resolved to see it all, to go to the bottom, 
so as to form a correct and an intelligible conception of 
the state of things as they then existed there. Never 
were two years more interestingly spent, nor fraught 
with better results than these two years which we spent 
in the South. Everything we saw, country, people, cus- 
toms, and ways, was to us an object of intense interest, 
and we examined into and devoured all, with a relish, 
which only an appetite that had been long denied can 
have. Indeed if we had been translated to the moon 
or to one of the planets, we could not have been more 
interested in what we saw. As to our life being en- 
dangered, there is one thing certain, we not only never 
knew that we were in danger but never felt to be in 
danger, or rather we were so deeply interested in what 
we did and saw, that we never thought about danger. 

We are so constituted that we can generally see the 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



57 



ridiculous or ludicrous side of a thing, a habit whether 
a vice or a virtue, which has served to carry us over 
many a rough and thorny road and prevented us from 
falling into those gloomy and desponding states with 
which many are afflicted and which make them un- 
happy and miserable both to themselves and their friends. 
Hence no matter how badly we may have felt when we 
began the daily rounds of our work, it would not be 
long before we would be convulsed with laughter, over 
some ludicrous thing, we saw, or ridiculous thing we 
heard, or laughable or amusing thought which passed 
through our mind, which latter would often 
be at our own expense. Not unfrequently have 
we been known to turn a sarcastic remark or insulting 
fling from ourselves upon the head of him who cast it, 
and then laugh heartily to ourselves at the ludicrous ef- 
forts he would make to get out of the range of his own 
guns. It was this mirthful (or ludicrous) side of our 
nature which made us oblivious to danger, but intensely 
interested in everything we saw, and did, while in the 
South. During the two years we were there we hardly 
know which we did the most laugh or cry. For while 
we would be at one moment inwardly weeping over the 
depths of degradation which could be seen on every 
side not merely among the blacks but also the whites, 
the next moment we would be convulsed with laughter 
at some ridiculous sight or episode which we saw or ex- 
perienced on the streets. 

Amusing Sights. 

For example, the next day after our arrival at Salis- 
bury we disgraced ourselves in the eyes of the com- 
munity by holding our sides in laughter at a little black 
fellow with a load of cotton. The little fellow was bare- 
footed, ragged and dirty, while his team consisted of a 
mule under the saddle, an ox on the off side, and a 
horse in the lead, which latter was guided with a rope 



i 5 8 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



line. When the little fellow drove up yelling at the top 
of his voice, and at the same time digging his heels into 
the mule, we impulsively roared with laughter. The 
sight was the most ridiculous, we had ever seen, and it 
completely overcame our equilibrium. 

Sometime after this we entered one of the principal 
stores to make a small purchase for our school; when 
one of the clerks came up to us rubbing his hands and 
smiling most pleasantly addressed us thus: "Good morn- 
ing uncle:" "It's a delightful morning, uncle, isn't it?" 
"Now, uncle, what can I do for you?" Now as we were 
not aware that we had a nephew in the South, and too 
such a fine intelligent looking one as this we expressed 
our surprise and asked him if he would kindly tell us 
whether it were on our mother's or father's side he came 
in, because we had heard father say that one of his 
brothers went off when young and was never heard from 
afterwards and we thought perhaps he might have gone 
South, and we thought perhapg he might have mistaken 
us for his father's brother. The youngster turned crim- 
son, then ashy, while his fellow clerks roared at his ex- 
pense. Of course we acted as if we were perfectly ignorant 
of the cause of the uprorious laughter, posing as if we 
were innocent, having meant just what we asked, (?) 
suffice it to say this young Southern blood never again 
called us uncle, though we were a frequent visitor at his 
store. And we have reason to doubt whether he ever 
addressed any other Negro as uncle. 

It also gave us no little inward mirth to see a big 
buxom girl having a milk-cow harnessed to a plough 
and ploughing in the field. This together with the pe- 
culiar down South vernacular which she used which may 
have been more intelligible to the cow than to us kept 
us in a constant state of risibility. 

Another laughable case was on board the train when 
we were leaving the South for Oberlin, Ohio, after we 
had been there two years. When we went South we 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



159 



resolved to have nothing to do with politics but to attend 
strictly to our duty as a missionary, but at the same time 
that we would demand our rights on all public convey- 
ances. We resolved that we would never be compelled 
to ride in a second class car, and if we rode in a second 
class car it would be at our own option. In the South 
immediately after the war they had two kinds of second- 
class cars. One was for all white second-class passengers, 
the other was for "niggers" as they were termed. These 
two compartments were formed by running a partition 
through the centre of a car with communicating door. 
In the "nigger" car, all colored people were compelled 
to ride, whether they had first or second class tickets, and 
all white smokers were privileged to go there and smoke. 
In the other end, all second class passengers and emi- 
grants rode. On the occasion referred to, as we were 
not paid off, and would not be until we got to Pittsburg, 
we concluded to purchase an emigrant ticket, and go 
as far as Baltimore, at least, as an emigrant, and thus 
save one-half or two-thirds of the expense. The emi- 
grants consisted of one man besides ourselves, and a 
white woman with eight grown daughters, who was on 
her way to Kansas to meet her husband, who had gone 
there to settle. We said to the colored brother who was 
armed with an emigrant ticket, "Remember we are emi- 
grants, and we will go into the emigrant end." He 
looked rather shy, and timid, but seeing that we were 
determined, he followed us in. The white mother and 
daughters looked like thunder clouds at us, and if they 
had not been afraid would have taken us up bodily and 
pitched us off. After a While the conductor came in and 
after collecting our tickets he very politely told us that 
the other end was for colored people. We told him we 
were emigrants and that we were in the right car. He 
left us but very soon his colored brakesman came in, 
saying that the conductor sent him to say that we must 
go into the colored end of the car. Our fellow emigrant 



i6o 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



became frightened and went almost on a trot to the end 
set apart for colored people, and left us to fight all 
alone; very soon our brakesman came to us again with 
the same instruction from the conductor. We now told 
him if he did not let us alone, we would pitch him head 
foremost off the train. From that on until we arrived 
at Baltimore we were not interfered with further. But it 
was laughable to see the change which gradually came 
over our fellow emigrants. At first they sat like nine 
tigresses, ready to tear us to pieces. But they gradually 
lost their tiger-like spirit as they got further away 
from the familiar scenes of home and the South, to scenes 
which were less familiar, so that before we reached Balti- 
more, they acted more like sisters or old familiar friends 
than deadly enemies. But now it was our time. We felt 
that we had been companions long enough, and it would 
be more healthful for us to part, for we knew that at 
Baltimore or at Harrisburg, the farthest, the ever me- 
morable emigrant train would be in waiting to take us 
West. So we bade them an affectionate farewell at Balti- 
more, and took a first class express train for Pittsburg. 
Never had friends regretted more to have us leave than 
these same white women. This only goes to show 
what we have always believed, namely, that color or 
Negro prejudice, is not the result of an innate or natural 
antipathy toward the Negro because of the color of his 
skin, but wholly because of his past and present condi- 
tion. Lift them out of this condition, let him become 
educated, and refined, let his moral and religious stand- 
ard be high and prejudice against him because he is a 
Negro will have vanished. Just as soon as those women 
on that North Carolina train got from under their en- 
vironments, and were able to see us through their natural 
eyes, and discovered that we were a gentleman, and in- 
stead of being objectionable we were an assistance, their 
prejudice rapidly began to vanish, so that by the time 
we reached Baltimore it was entirely gone. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



161 



The two years' work in the South were attended with 
most satisfactory results. The school we had was large- 
ly attended by a most enthusiastic class of scholars, con- 
sisting of all ages and complexions from the little tot, 
of the age for the Kindergarten, to old granddaddy and 
grandmammy who came leaning on their staffs; but 
these last were as eager to learn as the youngest, and 
much more than many of the younger. It was a much -f* 
moro interesting sight indeed to see these old people 
learning their letters and spelling out the words in their 
endeavor to read. Never have we seen brighter and 
more energetic scholars than some at this school. Many 
of them walking from six to ten miles every day in order 
to avail themselves of the opportunity to learn to read, 
write and cipher. A number of the most prominent 
educators and professional men and women in the South 
to-day received their first instruction under us in our 
school at Salisbury. We were never more thoroughly 
wedded to a work than we were to this and never were 
we more dearly attached to a people. To us, teaching 
was not only a duty, but it was a joy. We entered into 
it with all our heart, and it was not long before we were 
completely captivated by the work and the people. 
There was no time for homesickness or the blues, or 
fears of personal harm. The people all around us were 
crying for intellectual and spiritual bread and there were 
at that time but few of us to furnish it. So that when 
the time came for us to leave, in order to resume our 
course of study, it was the most trying ordeal that we 
have ever experienced. The whole school wept and 
came with their parents to the depot to see us off. 



ii 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Returned to Oberlin. Completion of College Course. 
Impressions of Princeton. 

Returning to Oberlin, we joined the class of '74, hav- 
ing lost two years by going South. 

We wish to remark here, that just before the call to 
go South, we received a very pressing letter from How- 
ard University to come there and finish our course, 
promising to pay all our expenses if we would go. We 
replied, offering as an excuse for not going, that we 
had not the money to pay our car fare, from our home 
to Washington. The very next mail brought us a check 
to pay our way to Washington. We were now caught 
in our own trap. But our mind was made up to gradu- 
ate at Oberlin and that nothing should divert us from, our 
purpose. Therefore we returned the check with regrets, 
choosing to drop back two years, rather than to gradu- 
ate elsewhere than at Oberlin. The friend, who sent 
us the first letter urging us to come to Howard, and 
afterwards sent us a check, was the Principal of the Pre- 
paratory Department there, a graduate of Oberlin from 
both the College and Theological Seminary, but is now a 
millionaire of New York city, and has a controlling in- 
terest in all the cement used in the concrete pavements 
throughout the country, viz., Mr. Amizi L. Barber. 

Completed Classical Course at Oberlin. 

The three years spent at Oberlin, which were required 
to complete our course of study, while years of severe 
trials, as we were straitened for the most part for funds, 
were, nevertheless, years fraught with interest. Aside from 
forming some of the most cherished friends of our life, 
men and women, who are the very salt of the earth, in 
162 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



163 



everything that is pure, and good, and noble, we formed 
also the acquaintance of Miss Caroline V. Still, daughter 
of William Still, the well-known author of the Under 
Ground Railroad, who, afterwards, became our partner 
for life, and to whom we owe, largely whatever measure 
of success, our labors may have attained, though it never 
occurred to us at the time, that she was chosen by God 
for us. Charles Ryder, also became our fast friend and 
classmate, who is now Rev. Charles Ryder, D. D., one 
of the Secretaries of the American Missionary Associa- 
tion, in New York City, and is doing a noble work for 
Christ and humanity. ■ 
We graduated at Oberlin in the class of 1874. 

Entered Upon Our Seminary Course. 

After graduating at Oberlin, we came to Pittsburg, 
with the express purpose of taking our Theological 
Course at the Western Theological Seminary, at Alle- 
gheny, as it was cheaper than Princeton, though Prince- 
ton was our choice. We matriculated and had our room 
assigned, but in the meantime, we wrote to Dr. McGill, 
at Princeton, asking to know what inducements were 
offered poor students. In a few days we received a 
reply, offering most flattering inducements, much better 
than they gave in the Western Seminary, and urging 
us strongly to come to Princeton. We made up our 
mind at once to go, notwithstanding we had matricu- 
lated and secured a room in the Western Theological 
Seminary. But there was one most serious obstacle in 
the way. 

We had a most valuable and honored cousin in busi- 
ness in Pittsburg, who was very desirous to have us go 
through at Allegheny, and who had placed us under 
many obligations to him, by frequent acts of kindness, 
as introducing us to valuable friends, giving us good and 
substantial advice, &c. But there was one noble act 
above all others he did for us, which made us feel as 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



if we were in honor bound to go through at the Alle- 
gheny Seminary. 

Pledge From the Avery Trustees. 

When we left Oberlin, we were $500 in debt, and our 
first thought was to go out and earn this money and 
pay off this indebtedness, before going on with our 
theological course. When we conferred with Cousin 
Hezekiah, he said he thought he could help us to get 
a part of the money, at least, in Pittsburg, and it was 
not long before he secured a written pledge from the 
Trustees of the Avery Fund that they would give two 
hundred and fifty dollars, provided that we would raise 
two hundred and fifty dollars, additional. This was a 
noble act on the part of my cousin, and it did seem, that 
we could not, in honor, leave and go to Princeton. We 
showed him Dr. McGiU's letter, however, and while he 
was surprised, and evidently disappointed, he advised, 
that if we preferred Princeton we had better go there. 

Left Allegheny for Princeton. 

Suffice it to say, in less than two hours we were aboard 
the train on our way to Princeton, When we arrived 
at Harrisburg, we called on Dr. Thomas H. Robinson, 
pastor of the Market Square Church, of that city, now 
Prof, of Sacred Rhetoric, in the Western Theological 
Seminary, and told him of our desire to go to Prince- 
ton, in preference to the Seminary at Allegheny, show- 
ing him at the same time the letter from Dr. McGill, 
setting forth the advantages of Princeton, and advising 
us to come there. We also let him see the pledge of the 
Trustees of the Avery Fund. He advised us to go to 
Princeton by all means, as it offered better inducements 
than Allegheny. He also advised that we let him take 
the pledge of the Avery Trustees, and he would raise 
the two hundred and fifty dollars, required to secure the 
pledge, and pay off our Oberlin debt. He also handed 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



165 



us twenty dollars, and a ticket to Princeton, a more gen- 
erous and noble act of kindness it has never been our 
lot to receive, and we shall ever hold the donor in grate- 
ful remembrance. 

Dr. McGill's Embarrassment. 

We went immediately to Princeton, arriving October 
14th, 1874, nearly a month after the term had opened. 



ceived a surprise which we were not expecting. The 
Doctor met us most formally, and without asking us 
to be seated, addressed us thus : "You are the man that 
was to see me about some work, I presume? What can 
you do? Where did you work last?" All in one breath, 
and without giving us a chance to answer. We were 
so surprised and taken down from our high pedestal of 
expectancy that we could not for a moment frame a 
suitable answer. But it flashed upon us, that no better 
answer could be given than his letter which we handed 
him. A study of the old Doctor's face as he glanced 
over his own letter was as good as a play. For a mo- 
ment he looked intensely at the letter, then raised his 
eyes and glanced at us, then scrutinized the letter again, 
after which he reached out his hand and said "Mr. An- 
derson I'm glad to see you, I didn't know, Mr. Ander- 
son, that it was you I was writing to. Take a seat." By 
this time all the ludicrous side of our nature was excited, 
and we would have given anything to roar, but we were 
under bonds to keep our equilibrium and we simply re- 
plied to his surprises, "Yes," "No." "Oh yes." He 
continued, "Now Mr. Anderson, I will give you a note 
of introduction to a most estimable colored lady, Mrs. 
Anthony Simmons, a lady of whom the best people of 
Princeton have the highest consideration and regard, 
she will room and board you I know, and with her you 
will have the best of care." We felt now it was time 
to take a positive stand and not to swerve an iota from 



We called 




when we re- 



i66 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



what we knew to be right and duty. "Dr. McGill," we 
said, "we left the Western Theological Seminary and 
came to Princeton because of the superior inducements 
Which Princeton offered, as stated in your letter, now if 
these advantages are not to be had, we will go back 
to Allegheny." The old Doctor wilted, he saw we had 
him. "Oh, yes, Mr. Anderson, ,, he replied, "Princeton 
offers all the inducements which I wrote you, but don't 
you think you would feel more at home among your 
own people. There are no colored students in the 
Seminary, and none ever roomed in the dormitories." 
"Dr. McGill, it was because of the dormitories and their 
furnishings we came," we replied; "as to our being more 
at home among the colored people, we feel we have been 
with both classes all our lives, besides we have not come 
to Princeton to be entertained, but to study." 

The old Dr., finding that we were not to be turned 
from our position, gave us a note to Dr. Moffat, asking 
him to be kind enough to assign the bearer, Mr. Ander- 
son, a room in the Old Seminary Building, and greatly 
oblige, Alexander McGill. We took the note, and 
thanked him most kindly and made direct for Dr. 
Moffat's but we could not resist the ridiculous thoughts 
that came crowding in our mind, as we recalled the in- 
terview with Dr. McGill. 

We had read somewhere of a little dog which had 
followed some friends into a fashionable church barking 
at the minister as he preached, when a drunken man, 
who was sitting in one of the back pews, marched de- 
liberately up to where the dog was in the front of the 
pulpit, and caught him back of the neck and held him 
up, at the same time shaking him saying, "You dirty 
mean little pup, you will tree a minister will you?" We 
felt that we were like that dog, we had treed a minister, 
and not only treed him but bagged him also, and that 
too, a Doctor of Divinity, and a Princeton Professor. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



167 



Dr. Moffat. 

Dr. Moffat seemed equally surprised when he read 
the note. He wasn't sure that there was a room in the 
seminary to be assigned, he said; however, he would 
go and see. 

Given a Lumber Room. 

After a whispered consultation with one of the ser- 
vants, about the building, he took us to a room whidh 
evidently had been used as a storage room, from the 
quantity of old broken chairs, bedsteads and shutters 
that were in it, and assigned it to us. We raised no ob- 
jection to the room, whatever, on account of 
the condition, for we knew well, if we once got our head 
in, we would be something like the camel in the fable, 
everything objectionable would have to go out; hence 
it would not be long before broken chairs, bedsteads, 
and shutters would be flying out in every direction to 
make room for the body of the Negro, who had gotten 
in his head. 

Good Room Given. 

When we occupied the room for about two weeks we 
were called upon by one of our wealthiest classmates, 
who is now a professor in Princeton University, who, 
when he noticed the pile of broken objects, said "Mr. 
Anderson this room is not fit for occupancy, it is a lum- 
ber room. There is a room on the other side of the hall 
vacant, there is no reason why it shouldn't be assigned 
to you. I would advise you to go and see Dr. Moffat, 
and ask him if he would not assign you that room." We 
at once called upon Dr. Moffat and asked for the room 
"Why what is the mitter with the room you have?" quer- 
ied Dr. Moffat, in his Scotch-Irish brogue. "It is a 
lumber room," we answered. "We never had any to 
room in the seminary before," he retorted, referring to 
Negro students, "It makes no difference to us whether 
you ever did or not, Doctor," we replied, "we are going 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



to room there, and have a suitable room, too, because we 
were assured by the corresponding secretary, Dr. Mc- 
Gill, that a good room, well furnished, would be given 
us in the seminary building should we come, and if we 
can't get this we will leave." The old Doctor did not 
make any further reply, but nervously assigned us the de- 
sired room. This ended our battles at old Princeton 
on the race question. From this time until we grad- 
uated we could not have been better treated in any 
school, than we were at Princeton, both by faculty and 
students. 

Impressions of Princeton. 

With the exception of a little weakness on the part 
of the seminary in regard to the Negro, which needs 
strengthening up, our impressions of Princeton are of 
the very highest kind. The Faculty for the most part 
is composed, not only of men of the ripest scholarship 
and soundest doctrine, but of high-tone Christian gen- 
tlemen. Men who impress you that they have come 
from noble antecedents both as to blood and doctrine. 
The seminary buildings, too, are very impressive, being 
large and massive, and as they are built of stone, they 
give the Institution an air of strength and endurance. 
This is true of nearly all the buildings, both of the semi- 
nary and the university generally, while the campuses 
of the seminary and college, we think, are the most beau- 
tiful of any college seat in the land. 

We say that with the exception of a little weakness on 
the subject of the Negro, our impressions of Princeton 
are of the very highest. In regard to the estimation and 
treatment of the Negro on the part of Princeton we have 
this to say, that she has not measured up to the Chris- 
tian standard in her attitude toward, and treatment of 
the Negro, owing largely to the proslavery spirit which 
impregnated the place before the war, caused by South- 
ern slave holders, who settled in and about the place, 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



169 



and yet there neven was the day in the history of the 
seminary when her doors were closed against the Negro 
student, which is not true of some seminaries of other 
denominations, even now in the North. From the very 
first the Negro was received to her halls on precisely 
the same footing as his white brother, and was required 
to pass through the same curriculum. 

But we are sorry that a school which had taken such 
a noble stand in the dark days of her early history, 
and with the standing and prestige of Princeton, would, 
for one moment, do anything which would in any way 
tarnish the lustre of her name, or subject her to criti- 
cism, with no more reason for her action or* course than 
that of holding on to a foolish and wicked prejudice, 
which ought long since to have been given up and bur- 
ied in the grave of oblivion. 

/ Up to the time that we entered Princeton, as was ad- 
mitted by Dr. Moffat, a Negro had not been given a 
room in one of her dormitaries, and we learn from 
good and reliable authority that after the graduation of 
the four colored students, namely: Frank J. Grimkie, 
Hugh M. Browne, Daniel W. Culp and the writer, 
all of whom were there at the same time, that 
not a single Negro student, has roomed in one 
of the buildings, though a number have gradu- 
ated from the seminary since then) The only 
exception, if it can be called an exception, being in the 
case of a Negro student, who was taken in for a short 
time by one of the other students while making a fight 
for a room, at the beginning of his junior year, who 
afterwards drew a room, but gave it up and took a 
room in one of the colored families of the town, through 
pressure which had been brought to bear upon him by the 
Seminary. We are a Presbyterian of the Presbyterians; 
the very fibre of our mental make-up being Presbyterian; 
before this nation came into existence our grand sires 
were in the Presbyterian Church, and we are firm in the 



I JO 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



belief that the Presbyterian Church is the church for the 
Negro, but we are forced to say that before the Presby- 
terian or any other church can have any great success 
in getting hold of the Negro, the fountain head of that 
church, the schools of the prophets must be right to- 
wards him. For if the Theological Schools are wrong 
in their attitude towards the Negro, the young men 
they send out as ministers will be wrong in their atti- 
tude towards him, and if the ministry is wrong, the peo- 
ple whom they teach will be wrong also, for like priest 
like people. Let Princeton Seminary, the fountain head 
of the Presbyterian Church turn about and make her- 
self perfectly right in regard to the Negro, and it will 
not be many years before the Presbyterian Church will 
possess the land of Nigritia. 

Western Classmates at Princeton. 

When we went to Princeton we found two young men 
there who had been classmates of ours at Oberlin, and 
who like ourselves were poor and had to struggle every 
way to get through the college. They roomed in the 
same building at Princeton that we did, and on the 
same floor. These young men had undergone a most 
radical change in their actions towards us at Princeton. 
For although we met regularly in the same class, a num- 
ber of times a day, and roomed on the same floor, they 
were exceedingly formal, most distant in their recog- 
nition, did not call upon us, until we had been at Prince- 
ton over two months, and then not until we had been 
recognized by several of the wealthiest and honored 
young men of the class. 

Occasionally one of the honor men would have us go 
out walking, preach over with him our sermon in the 
woods, and go over the lectures with us. Seeing that the 
wealthy students of our class did not disdain the Negro, 
our Western classmates began to be very friendly. 
They would not only speak most familiarly, but stop 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



171 



and converse about the state of ouir health, the 
weather, the studies, our impressions of Prince- 
ton as compared with Oberlin, &e. But we were not 
so easily mulched. We saw at once the reason for 
this radical change. While they had been running away 
from the Negro they had not become popular with the 
honored members of the class, while the Negro was 
treated by them most friendly. 

Hence they would criticise most unmercifully Prince- 
ton, the students, the Faculty and the work in the semi- 
nary, and tried to get us to be of the same way of think- 
ing, but they never could succeed. 

Instead of agreeing with them we would laud Prince- 
ton to the skies. When they expressed regret that they 
had come to Princeton to study theology, we said that 
it was the delight of our lives that we came. When they 
said the students were most unsociable, we said, we 
thought them most sociable, far more so than the stu- 
dents at Oberlin. These two young men boarded at the 
Refectory, while we boarded at Mrs. Anthony Simmons, 
(the estimable colored lady whom Dr. McGill recom- 
mended so highly). The quality of board in these two 
houses was just the opposite. Our table was that 
of a caterer, for that was what Mrs. Simmons, and her 
husband, too, in his life time, did for a living. The 
table of the other was that of a refectory. Now every- 
one who had been a student at Princeton Seminary in 
the early seventies knows what kind of a table that 
was. Sometimes they would talk to us about their 
board, and tell how poor it was, how little they got to 
eat, that it was nothing compared with the board at 
Oberlin. 

Though we did not tell them, we were compelled to 
believe it, judging from their hungry looks. But in- 
stead of admitting that we believed it, we said we could 
not conceive how there could be such a great difference 
between their board and ours and we were not slow to 



172 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



give them an idea of our menu; which when they heard 
of the fried oysters, the chicken salad, the fish, the ex- 
cellent desserts, they looked only the more hungry, and 
envious of our good fortune. Of course we tried to 
make our table, decorated in faultless linen and laden 
with all the luxuries of the season, look as realistic as 
possible. 

One day they came to us and said: "Brother Ander- 
son, we would be happy to have you take dinner with 
us to-day." As we were anxious to see something of 
the refectory board, we accepted the invitation and went, 
and when we saw and partook of the meal, which con- 
sisted of black, heavy bread, strong butter, boiled meat 
and potatoes, weak coffee and tea, sweetened with dark 
sugar, we were not surprised that our two Oberlin class- 
mates were dissatisfied, and that they looked lean and 
hungry. Of course we had to eat, and having an ex- 
cellent stomach and a good digestive apparatus we did 
eat with a relish, gulping down bread and butter, meat 
and potatoes, and drinking the coffee as if we were really 
enjoying it hugely. Indeed, judging from the sparkle 
in their eyes, they evidently thought that they had it 
on us after all. The meal ended, we wiped our mouths, 
thanked our class-mates for their kind consideration, 
and bade them adieu. 

It was now our time to return the compliment. So in 
the course of a week we called at their room and gave 
them a most pressing invitation to take dinner with us, 
setting the time, which they accepted. In the mean- 
time we apprized our landlady, Mrs. Simmons, of what 
we had done, giving her a running commentary of the 
young men, our experience with them, &c, and had 
her consent to get up one of her characteristic meals, 
such as only a caterer knows how to get up. The meal 
was a grand one, a veritable feast. It was served in 
courses, and consisted of some ten, commencing with 
soup and ending with candies and nuts, besides the 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



173 



dining room was most handsomely decorated with roses, 
which gave it more the air of a banquet than an ordi- 
nary meal. The boys looked surprised, bewildered, and, 
while we put on an air of indifference or nonchalance, 
and ate and chatted as if we were partaking of a meal 
which was in no way unlike in kind to the regular every 
day dinner of the household. The two boys had but little 
to say, but the fried oysters, chicken salad, tongue, roast 
turkey, terrapin, a la mode beef, ice cream and cake made 
their way in regular order, and in rapid succession to 
the plates and mouths of these young men. They were 
so pleased with their meal and the family that they came 
to us afterwards to know whether there was any chance 
for them to secure board at the same place. But our 
good landlady thought that one theolog. was quite 
enough for her time and patience. We will simply re- 
mark that our Western class mates became so greatly 
discouraged and disgusted at old Princeton, that they 
left and went elsewhere to complete their theological 
course. 

The Negro Student at Princeton Seminary. 

Until we came to Princeton a Negro student had not 
been in the seminary for a number of years consequent- 
ly our appearance was a novelty to all the 
students, as well as the people of the town. We never 
could go out on the streets, enter a store or cross the 
campus, but we would see some one nudging an- 
other, or casting a knowing glance at us, and then at a 
friend, if not speaking out audibly, "There he goes." At 
first these nudges, glances and utterances were very an- 
noying, but with our natural vein of mirthfulness we soon 
turned them into sport, and took them as a capital joke. 

After we had 1 been at Princeton a year, however, the 
idea of a Negro being in the seminary began to be lost 
sight of, the students beginning to accept the situation, 
and take it as a matter of course. But just as every- 



174 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



body was forgetting about it, renewed interest was ex- 
cited on the subject by the sudden appearance upon the 
scene of another Negro, who had come to enter the 
seminary. Walking out with one of the students, short- 
ly after this young Negro arrived, we were accosted 
thus. "Mr. Anderson, there's another one come, isn't 
there?" But as the students were coming in on every 
train, returning from their vacation, or new students 
were coming in daily to connect themselves with the 
seminary for the first time, we gave our companion a 
very evasive answer. "Oh there's more than another," 
we said, "they are coming in on every train." "Yes, yes 
that is true," he answered, "I mean there is another of 
your people come in to join the Seminary." "Oh, yes," 
we said, "there is a colored gentleman here from Wash- 
ington, a graduate of Howard University, by the name 
of Hugh M. Birowne,who has come to join the seminary." 
Some three weeks after this we were walking with an- 
other classmate, when he remarked, "There's another 
one come, I see, Mr. Anderson." "Oh yes" we said, 
"the juniors are certainly going to have a large class, 
judging from the way they are coming in." "Oh, I mean," 
he said, "that another colored student has come to join 
the seminary." "Oh, I understand," we said, "yes, Mr. 
Francis J. Grimkie, of South Carolina, a graduate of 
Lincoln University has come, and he has a room as- 
signed him in the old seminary." The next fall at the 
beginning of our senior year, another colored student 
came from the South, a graduate of Biddle University, 
by the name of Culp. He was tall, and angular, and as 
black as the hinges of midnight. So black, in fact, that 
all that could be seen of him, on a dark night, was a 
black shiny streak, as he passed along. Some time 
after this colored gentleman appeared on the scene, we 
were walking out with a friend when he suddenly ex- 
claimed, at the same time slapping us on the shoulder, 
"Mr Anderson, there's another one come, and he is the 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



175 



blackest man, that I ever saw/' This was too much for 
our over-exuberant spirits, and we exploded, and for a 
square we had to hold our sides with laughter. We 
afterwards became very intimately acquainted with Mr. 
Culp, and when we wanted to tease him, we would say 
"Culp, what made you so black, you are the blackest 
man that I ever saw." He knew the joke, and enjoyed 
it as richly as we. 

The Negro Student at Princeton College. 

In addition to the regular seminary studies, we availed 
ourselves of the privilege, granted by the college to semi- 
nary students to take lectures in any special course in 
that institution, consequently we took lectures in the 
history of philosophy and psychology under Dr. Mc- 
Cosh. Mr. Browne and Grimkie, took lectures in the 
college also, under Dr. McCosh. But when Culp walk- 
ed in the class room with his book under his arm, it 
was too much, for the young bourbons of the South. 
They had been able to stand black, and blacker, but 
when the blackest came into their classic halls, they 
bolted. They waited upon "Jirnmie" as Dr. McCosh 
was familiarly called and threatened that unless the 
Negro was excluded from the class room they would 
leave the institution. 

Dr. McCosh's Noble Stand. 

But they had mistaken their man. They had forgot- 
ten, if they had ever read, Dr. McCosh's inaugural ad- 
dress, in which he said that while he would be the Presi- 
dent of the College of New Jersey, its doors should be 
open to all nationalities, hence he gave them to under- 
stand that while he would be sorry to 'have them leave, 
still if their staying would depend on the expulsion of 
the Negro they would have to go, for under no circum- 
stances would he exclude the Negro from his class so 
long as he wanted to attend. Finding that he would not 



176 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



yield to their prejudice, they boycotted his class, and 
thought by this means they would compel the Negro's 
expulsion. 

In the meantime pressure was being brought upon 
Mr. Culp, the Negro student, to induce him to re- 
main away from the college, at least until the excitement 
died out. His colored friends hearing of it, had a con- 
ference and decided that if he, Culp, would be bought 
off, that he should be run out of town, which decision 
was communicated to him. This heroic action on the 
part of his friends strengthened his nerve, and he con- 
tinued to attend the lectures. 

The Southern students, finding that neither their 
threats, nor boycott was of any avail in excluding the 
Negro, left for their homes. But it was not long before 
their parents petitioned to have them taken back. They 
were given to understand, that they had left of their 
own free will, and they might return if they wished, but 
the Negro would not be excluded. This settled it, suf- 
fice it to say, nearly all of these students returned, and 
took their places in their class, with the Negro. Here 
is an example of what one man can do, who will take 
his stand firmly on the side of truth and principle. 
Princeton University has been a better, stronger and 
more popular institution from that time. 



DR. CAROLINE V. ANDERSON, 

The wife of Rev. Matthew Anderson 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Entered Upon His Life's Work. Writing for the 
American Missionary Association. 

After our graduation at Princeton we spent three 
months in the office of the American Missionary Asso- 
ciation, in New York City, by whom we were employed 
to write an outline history of their Mendian work, West 
Africa, to which we have already referred in these pages. 

There is but one circumstance in reference to our ex- 
perience in New York to which we will refer, of which 
no mention has been made. We would remark in the 
first place, that the chief reason why we were asked to 
write this outline history, was the hope that we would 
become so thoroughly saturated with the subject of Af- 
rica and the Mendian work, that we would feel com- 
pelled to go as a missionary, under the Association. For 
some reason, unknown to ourselves, the secretaries of 
this Association (Strieby and Pike) were led to believe 
that we were designed by God for the African work, and 
the Mendian field in particular, and when they invited us 
to take charge of their missionary operations in that field 
they were not willing to take "no" for an answer. 

We will never forget the surprise which their letter, 
inviting us to this work, as we were about to graduate at 
Princeton, gave us; and also pain, because we never had 
the least thought nor desire to go to Africa as a mission- 
ary. In fact, we had always been prejudiced against the 
country and the missionary operations as carried on 
there by the Boards in this country. But, strange to say, 
though we expressed our feelings freely and openly, we 
were being constantly urged to go there as a missionary. 
Those who seemed to know us the best were emphatic in 

12 177 



178 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



saying that we were by nature constituted for that field. 
But we always had a will of our own, and we say, being 
prejudiced against the field, no inducement could get us 
to consent to go. 

But the constant urgency, on the part of intelligent 
and godly friends, to go to Africa gave us pain, because 
it did seem at times as if we were contending against 
God, fleeing, it would seem, to Tarshish when the Lord 
would have us go to Nineveh. This was the way we felt 
when we were so unexpectedly invited to go to Africa by 
the American Missionary Association. And we well re- 
member how heartily some of the students laughed, for 
we had been praying for a call. But, we reasoned, if 
God wanted us to go to Africa He would incline our 
hearts; on the contrary we had no desire to go what- 
ever; besides, we had been preparing all our life for the 
American Africa, which we felt was needing us quite as 
much, if not, in some respects, more than Africa in the 
dark continent. 

This was the argument that we used to the secretaries 
in our reply to their letter of invitation. And when they 
came to Princeton, as they afterwards did, and spent 
three hours in our room trying to persuade us to consent 
to go, they proposed, as a last resort to induce us to go, 
that we go to New York and write an "Outline His- 
tory" of their Mendian work, having elicited from us the 
promise that if we should be convinced that it was our 
duty to go we should not hesitate to go. They felt sure 
that we would be convinced by this means. 

Their thought and hope were, that we would become 
so filled and saturated with Africa from the reading of 
the letters from missionaries on the field, reports and 
papers that we would be obliged to go. 

Never did we enter upon any work more enthusias- 
tically than we did this. We read and wrote with an 
avidity and a relish, such as we had never experienced 
before. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



179 



We literally devoured everything we could find in the 
Office of the Association on the African work.The whole 
history of their Mendian work, from its inception, when 
the Amistad captives, who had risen in mutiny, under 
their leader, Sinque, against their Spanish captors, in 
1842, and their return, to Africa, until the time of our 
writing in the summer of 1877, had been carefully gone 
over and chronologically noted by us. 

We worked late and early, and we feel satisfied, that 
not an item of interest escaped our notice, and a place 
in our notes. Among the items of interest was one, 
which had taken place at the Brooklyn Tabernacle, on 
the occasion of a farewell meeting to a number of mis- 
sionaries, who were about to sail to the Mendi Mission. 

Mr. William C. Brown. 

In the audience was a young man, the son of a slave 
holder, who became so very much impressed with the 
ceremonies, that he offered himself there and then to 
go to Africa as a Missionary. The young man's name 
was William C. Brown. He was at once accepted, and 
sent with the missionaries then about to embark. We 
followed this young man's career with the greatest inter- 
est; everything we could find relating to him and his 
work in Africa was carefully noted. His work seemed 
to give the greatest satisfaction, judging from the kindly 
manner in which he was spoken of by the missionaries 
in their letters to the association, while his own letters 
were just bubbling over with interest and religious en- 
thusiasm. 

But all at once there was a break, not a letter could 
be secured in the office about him, either from himself, 
or from any of the missionaries. We inquired the cause 
of the break, but no one seemed able to give us light 
on the subject. We were wild to know the cause. We 
could not go on with the outline because of this missing 
link in the chain of Mendian history. For a week we 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



searched the records, to find this broken link or lost 
cord. We searched until we were almost ready to give 
up in despair. 

Visit of Prof. Wm. S. Scarborough. 

In the meantime we had a visit from Prof. Wm. S. 
Scarborough, now of Wilberforce University, and who 
had been a schoolmate at Oberlin. He was anxious to 
see, the notorious Five Points, New York, of which he 
had heard so much, and to accommodate him late one 
afternoon we took him on a tour through the noted dis- 
trict. We continued walking until in the night, com- 
paring notes, and laying plans for the future. Passing 
a mission where a meeting was in progress, we con- 
cluded we would go in for a few minutes. 

Soon after we were seated, a little man got up, and 
commenced giving his experiences, among them his ex- 
periences in Africa, the mention of his having been in 
Africa thrilled us through and through. Can it be pos- 
sible, we said to ourselves, that this is the person we are 
seeking? We became so excited that we could hardly 
retain ourselves until the meeting was out. As soon as 
the meeting was over we rushed up to him and said: 
"You will please excuse me, but I would be happy to 
know your name." "William C. Brown," he answered, 
without a word. We at once grasped him by the hand 
and said: "My dear Mr. Brown, I am delighted to find 
you; for a week I have been searching for you." 
"Searching for me; what for? Who are you?" We then 
told him who we were — what we were doing in New 
York, how impressed we were with the account of him 
having given himself up to go as a missionary to Africa, 
and with his letters from the field to the Association. 
But there was a sudden break, and we have not been able 
to find any clue of him from that time until the present 
moment. He then opened up to us a chapter which did 
not seem to be among the archives of the office. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



181 



He had gone to Africa, he said, filled with religious 
zeal and enthusiasm. No missionary could have taken 
a greater interest in the work than he. While on a visit 
to Capetown, Sierre Leone, he became acquainted with a 
Sierre Leone lady, who had been finely educated in Eng- 
land, and at first sight he fell in love with her. In the 
course of time he married her. For this act of crime(?) 
the missionaries snubbed him, and wrote severe criticisms 
to the home Board about him. Still, he said, he felt the 
Board would sustain him when they knew the facts as 
they were, for he could not work himself up to believe, 
he said, that a Missionary Board, or an Association could 
be so blinded with color prejudice as to make its in- 
fluence operative 6,000 miles from home, and that, too, 
among a people in whom they professed to be inter- 
ested. Acting upon this belief he came home on a va- 
cation, bringing his wife. 

They stopped at the Astor House, New York city. 
But, he said, he soon found that the authorities in the 
office of the Association were as bitterly opposed to him 
for this as were the missionaries in the field. They 
gave him no countenance whatever. The only man who 
had the Christian manhood and grace to receive him 
and treat him as a gentleman was Lewis Tappan, who 
entertained him and his wife at his house. 

After this wonderful revelation and story we arranged 
to have him meet us at the office of the Association the 
next day at 10 o'clock. Precisely at 10 o'clock he 
walked into the office, and taking him up to Secretary 

S we said: "Dr. S , here is the man we have 

been searching for for more than a week." They shook 
hands formally, the Doctor being greatly surprised and 
bewildered to know how and where we came across him. 

Prejudice Rebuked. 

"I am not surprised, Dr. S ," he said, "that I was 

lost to you, after the manner I was treated by your mis- 



182 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



sionaries, and your Association, for no other sin than that 
I saw proper to marry an intelligent, refined Christian 
Negro lady. For this crime I was slighted by your 
missionaries in Africa and by your officials at home." 

We were really sorry when we saw the intense earnest- 
ness of the man, and the evident mortification of our 

friend Dr. S , but we could not help but feel then, 

and we have felt ever since, that the hand of the Lord 
was in it all, and that we did nothing more than our duty, 
though it mortified the officials of a great missionary as- 
sociation. We would remark that we would be afraid 
to put over our signature this wonderful discovery if Dr. 
Scarborough, Professor of Greek in Wilberforee 
University, were not living. But since he is living, and 
ready to vouch as to the correctness of this statement, 
Ave put it in. This revelation did not encourage us to go 
as a missionary to Africa, though our own research rad- 
ically changed our views in regard to Africa and its 
peoples. Before entering upon this work we had an 
erroneous opinion of this whole African subject. In our 
mind there was no land or people lower, more 
debased, nearer the brute, and with slighter possibilities 
to rise than the people of Africa. But after three 
months' careful study of the land and its peoples it was 
to us the most wonderful land, physically, on the earth, 
and its people, though degraded at present, were a won- 
derful people naturally, and that there were before them 
the greatest possibilities. 

Went to New Haven. 

After finishing writing in New York, we went to 
New Haven, Connecticut, and for two years supplied the 
Temple Street Congregational Church, in the meantime 
taking a special course at the Yale Divinity School. 
When we left New Haven, as it has been shown, it was 
to take hold of mission work in the South. Hence our 
coming to Philadelphia and taking hold of mission work 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



183 



here was entirely unseen and unsought by us. Indeed 
we looked upon our whole course of preparation for the 
ministry until the time we came to take charge of the 
mission work in Philadelphia, and all our work, both in 
the mission and in the church to the present time, as 
being the direct leading by the hand of Providence. 

There is nothing more evident to us than that the 
Berean Church, from its foundation to its topmost stone, 
is in answer to prayer. There have been so many things 
brought about, so many unexpected friends raised up, 
that we can account for them in no other way than that 
God, for some beneficent purpose and end, has taken hold 
especially of the Berean Church; and though there have 
not been as yet marked spiritual results, enough has 
been accomplished and sufficient forces are at work to 
assure great and glorious results in the future. 

The Hand of the Lord. 

We have said the hand of the Lord has been with us 
in all our pastoral labors, from the time we left home as 
a boy up to the present time. This can be seen at a 
glance on taking a retrospective view of our past course. 
For example, had we not commenced our schooling in 
the little school in Ohio, where we found a sympathetic 
feeling with the principles which had been implanted 
within us by inheritance and parental instruction, we 
would not have become fixed in those principles which 
have been our sheet anchor during all these years. 
Again, it was necessary to begin at this school in order 
to be prepared to go to Oberlin. Had we gone to 
Oberlin at first, with our excitable and sensitive tem- 
perament, we would certainly have failed. But after 
having gone to Iberia we were prepared for the slights, 
the indifferences, the want of personal interest, which 
every student experiences in an institution which is so 
largely attended as Oberlin. And yet it was very nec- 
essary for us to have this experience, in order to 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



fit and prepare us for the greater slights and indiffer- 
ences of the world. Proud of what we regarded as our 
pristine virtues, entertaining false views as to propriety, 
God had us go out on a lecturing tour in order to mor- 
tify our pride, by breaking us over the wheel of humilia- 
tion ; at the same time He opened up a chapter of human 
callousness or unmercifulness, which has been to 
us invaluable. We were led to Pittsburg and the 
Western Theological Seminary, not that we were 
to take our course in Theology there, but to 
come in contact with those who would assist us in 
meeting our Oberlin indebtedness. We had no thought 
when we left Oberlin for Pittsburg that we would find 
any encouragement there in reference to money to pay 
our college debts. But see how wonderfully the money 
was raised, and that without any effort on our part. We 
happened to relate our burden in regard to this debt, 
and the doubt we entertained whether we ought to 
commence the study of theology until we paid it off. 
In less than twenty-four hours from the time of this in- 
terview, the pledge was secured from the Trustees of the 
Avery fund for one-half of the debt, and that, too, 
wholly unexpected on our part, until the pledge was 
handed us by our cousin, Hezekiah Anderson. No 
sooner was this pledge secured than the way was opened 
up for us to go to Princeton, the seminary which we long 
had our hearts set upon to attend. But we had no 
money to pay our fare further than Harrisburg. 

Rev. Thomas H. Robinson, D. D., LL. D. 

Arriving at Harrisburg we called on Dr. Thomas H. 
Robinson, pastor of the Market Square Presbyterian 
Church, of that city. As we said before, the most we ex- 
pected was to secure his influence to get us a ticket over 
the Pennsylvania Railroad to Princeton. But God had 
a greater blessing in store for us. Dr. Robinson not 
only secured a ticket for us and gave us twenty dollars 



ITS RELA TION TO THE NEGRO. 



185 



with which to get what incidentals we needed to com- 
mence our studies at Princeton, but beyond and above 
all, he took upon himself the burden of our indebtedness 
at Oberlin, relieving us not only of the task of raising 
the required amount in order to secure the Avery pledge, 
but of all responsibility of the debt, even as to the pay- 
ing it off after the money was raised. We went to 
Princeton, that Gibraltar of Orthodoxy. We had the 
honor of sitting at the feet of those giants of intellectual 
and moral strength, Drs. Charles Hodge and James Mc- 
Cosh, and felt the thrill of joy and satisfaction produced 
by the thought of being at the very fountain head of 
Presbyterianism, our cherished faith. 

Side Lights Which Reveal a Wrong State of Things 
at Old Princeton. 

And yet there were side lights which revealed a state 
of spiritual slavery in old Princeton most painful to wit- 
ness, the knowledge of which has been most useful to us 
in the ministry of the Word. For example, the effort to 
evade the assignment of rooms in the dormitories to 
Negro students; and the attempt to frighten a Negro 
student from attending lectures under Dr. McCosh, in 
order to cater to the prejudice of some white bourbons 
from the South. 

The hand of the Lord is again seen in leading us to 
New York, by which we were shown how greatly af- 
fected everything in the United States has been by 
slavery, even the Missionary Boards, and that "truth 
crushed to the earth will rise again." No greater mani- 
festation of the directing hand of Providence can be 
shown than the means which led to the discovery of Mr. 
Brown. For there was not a person who was in any 
way connected with the American Missionary Associa- 
tion that knew he was in this country. 

We were led to New Haven to supply the old fossilized 
church, which had the form of godliness, but was dead. 



i86 



FRESB YTERIA NISM. 



We entered upon our work there with our usual zeal, 
but we soon discovered that there was something wrong. 
Where it was and what it was we were for some time at a 
loss to tell, but it was finally revealed that this one, and 
that one, who was influential in the church, was living in 
secret sin and hypocrisy, praying for the success of the 
church and its pastor, and at the same time taking a 
course which was gradually but surely bringing leanness 
and death upon the church. 

When we left Xew Haven it was ostensibly to com- 
mence missionary work in the South; but having our 
attention called to the need of mission work in Phila- 
delphia by Dr. Reeve, with whom we stopped as we 
were passing through the city, we concluded, after due 
consideration, to abandon our Southern plans and take 
hold of this work, where a commencement had been 
made by the Lombard Street Central Presbyterian 
Church, of which Dr. Reeve was, and is still, the honored 
pastor. 

Accordingly on the 14th of October, 1879, we entered 
upon the mission work in Philadelphia, in which field 
we have been at work ever since, having just completed 
our seventeenth year of continuous sen-ice. The results 
of our labors during these 17 years speak for themselves. 
Seventeen years ago there was neither church organiza- 
tion nor building. Xow we have a young, vigorous or- 
ganization, consisting of over two hundred members of 
the church and congregation, and property valued at 
over seventy-five thousand dollars. This together with 
the different organizations which are growing gradually 
more and more effective goes to show, that the Lord has 
been preparing us all these years for this special work. 
We look at the work as it was when we first took charge 
and what it is now, and we impulsively exclaim, "The 
hand of the Lord hath wrought this." 

But we would remark that whatever success may have 
attended our labors we attribute it wholly under God 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



as the result of having followed certain rules which we 
had formulated for our regulation and guidance in life. 

The Rules We Followed. 

First. Never to undertake anything without first 
having studied it in all its different phases, with the 
Spirit's guidance, and after seeing it in all its relations, 
and there be given a reasonable assurance of success to 
undertake it. 

Second. After having carefully considered the sub- 
ject and convinced that the work in question should be 
undertaken, not to allow any adverse influences what- 
ever to divert us from our purpose. 

Third. In presenting the work to others, never exag- 
gerate it with the hope of gaining friends, or money, to 
assist in carrying it on, but to show it in its true light, 
even though the truth for the time being would tend to 
prejudice against the work. 

Fourth. When convinced that the work is needed, and 
that it is the will of Providence that we should under- 
take it, to make use of all the means at our command 
temporal, intellectual and spiritual, to secure its suc- 
cess. 

Fifth. In all our labors to keep clearly before us not 
only the present, but the future wants of the people and 
to work accordingly, even though the people themselves 
do not see that they are needing such work. 

Sixth. That we be guided and regulated by the great 
and immortal principles of divine truth, rather than by 
sentiment, which knows no creed, race or color, and 
which regards all men alike redeemed by one common 
Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. That while by the acci- 
dents of birth and the unholy sentiment of the country, 
our labors are confined principally to the people of the 
colored race, we should nevertheless regard ourselves, 
ministers of Christ, as embracing a wider sphere of 
labor, since in God's sight there is neither Jew nor Greek, 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, but all related by 
ties of consanguinity, having sprung from common pa- 
rents. 

Seventh. That we ever hold sacred the great cardinal 
truths of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of 
man, and make them the guiding star of our life work in 
all of our dealings toward our fellowmen. 

Eighth. That we be perfectly frank and honest in all 
our work, never to misrepresent it for the sake of gain, 
take advantage of the ignorant, but at all times try and 
carry out the principles of the golden rule. 

Ninth. That we fear no man, nor call any man master, 
but be kindly affectioned towards all men, and under no 
circumstances to allow an insult to pass unresented 
which was intended to belittle our manhood, not because 
of ourselves personally, but because of the race with 
Which we are identified, and which to stigmatize would 
be the real object of the insult. 

Tenth. That we listen to the criticisms and advice of 
friends, and acknowledge our failures and faults, and be 
ever ready to apologize to others for injuries done them 
by us. 

These ten rules, though unwritten, embrace the prin- 
ciples which have regulated us in all our work up to the 
present time, and to which we attribute whatever suc- 
cess may have attended our labors. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Resume of Seventeen Years' Work in Philadelphia. 

It has been seventeen years since we entered the 
work of the Berean Church in this city, and eighteen 
years since our ordination to the ministry, and yet we 
can conscientiously say that while we have erred fre- 
quently in judgment we have never knowingly taken 
advantage of a single individual, nor misrepresented in 
an iota the work in w'hich we are engaged for the sake 
of gain, or to excite admiration in us as a worker. 
Friends may have differed with us as to our methods and 
plans, and they may have been disposed to think us 
visionary or ephemeral in judgment, yet no one who 
knows us could conscientiously accuse us of dishonesty 
or of being actuated by selfish or mercenary motives. 

Motives. 

And there has been nothing Which has been to us a 
greater source of pleasure than this fact. While on the 
other hand we have experienced no little pain from the 
implication on the part of some, who not knowing us 
but judging us from the standpoint of the world, thought 
that our efforts and aims were selfish or mercenary, when 
the fact is, if we knew ourselves at all, our aim and ef- 
fort has been to employ all the means at our command 
to assist in raising the standard of the colored people of 
this city and land to a higher plane. 

All that we have done and are doing, and have within 
our hearts to do, is to advance this end ; consequently we 
have taken but little thought of our present or future 
welfare, so far as making any substantial provision for 
the future maintenance of ourself and family are con- 
cerned. 

189 



190 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



The fact is that while we have secured for the church 
property which is valued at from $75,000 to $100,000, 
and which is growing more valuable each year, we have 
nothing ourselves; we do not possess a foot of land or 
property of any kind, and very often we find ourselves 
in very embarrassing circumstances financially. 

We speak of this not to awaken sympathy, or to in- 
duce benevolent friends to contribute toward our neces- 
sities, but to correct a false impression whicih is enter- 
tained by some good and well-meaning friends, namely, 
that we are well provided with this world's goods, when 
in reality we have hardly enough to meet our barest 
necessities ; not that our salary is so small that we cannot 
live upon it, but because we are obliged to draw upon it 
to assist in meeting the running expenses of the church. 

While engaged in paying off the debt on the property 
we have not been able to increase the numerical and 
financial strength of the organization. Our theory has 
been that inasmuch as the people were all poor, we 
should first go forward and secure the church and par- 
sonage and pay for them, after which turn our attention 
to the gathering in of the people, and in educating them 
along the different church lines. 

Being compelled to do this work almost single-handed 
and alone, we have been confined ever since we com- 
menced, in 1881, up to the present. But the running ex- 
penses are just the same as if the congregation were 
large, hence we have been compelled to use money to 
meet these expenses which was given for our personal 
necessities. It is on this account that we have been for 
the most part straightened and in debt ; our position has 
been, and is yet, trying in the extreme. It has been a 
veritable standing between a Scylla and Charybdis when 
there is considered the attitude of many of the white 
and colored people towards our work. The one looking 
with gangrenous eyes towards the place, the result of their 
preconceived notions and prejudices towards the Negro; 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



191 



the other jealous and envious over what looks to them 
to be peculiar advantages vouchsafed to us not granted 
to them, and hence, both venting their vituperations or 
spleen upon us and our work, though under the mask 
of professed interest and regret for its apparent want of 
numerical success, both of which greatly tends to de- 
stroy our spirit and cripple the work; indeed it tends to 
bring about the very result which they predict, and in 
fact whidh would result, were it not for our determined 
purpose to do faithfully and well the will of Him whose 
plans we have been trying to carry out from the begin- 
ning to the present. 

But trying, yea, even galling, as our position is, we 
would not have had it otherwise. Indeed we thank God 
that He has counted us worthy to bear it for Him, for 
the benefit which we have derived personally from our 
experience has been incalculable. We are a better, 
broader and stronger man every way than we possibly 
could have been had we not had this experience. Our 
sympathies are greater, our range of vision wider, and 
interests broader. We see things in a different light to 
what we once saw them. We understand what is meant 
by suffering for Christ's sake, and living for a principle 
rather than for self; being poor and yet infinitely rich; 
weak and yet having the strength of omnipotence; of 
time, and yet having entered upon an eternal career. 

Instead of our experience having made us sour, cen- 
sorious or revengeful, it has made us benevolent, sweet 
and kind. There is not a man or woman in all the range 
of our acquaintance whom we hate or for whom we 
would not do an act of kindness. We feel we can conscien- 
tiously say that we love every person, and that we look 
upon every person as our brother. And we say this, 
not boastfully, or in a braggadocio spirit, humbly in the 
name of Him who has been leading us all these years, 
Whose we are and Whom we are trying to serve. 



192 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



Our Friends. 

But we feel that we would not be true to ourselves, 
if before closing this personal narrative we did not call 
special attention to the dear friends whose kind words 
and generous acts made it possible for the writer to ac- 
complish the work that he has been enabled to do in 
Philadelphia. There has been a goodly coterie of these 
friends, as has already been shown in these pages. Some 
are still battling here, others have gone to their reward 
above. 

Among the latter were some of earth's noblest men 
and women, whose ear was open to hear and hand to 
give to suffering humanity whenever their attention was 
called. Among these were the brothers, Messrs. Wil- 
liam and James Hogg. These were devoted friends of the 
Berean Church and did much to encourage the pastor 
in his work. 

Also Mr. Herbert Hogg, this excellent young man par- 
took richly of the spirit of his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jas. 
Hogg, being interested in charitable work. Though 
but a mere youth, when we first formed his acquaintance, 
we found his ear open to hear, and his heart beating in 
sympathy with us in our work. Writing to us just be- 
fore his last sickness he expressed the interest that he 
had in it, which he said was caused by hearing 
it spoken of so kindly at home. Among his last acts 
before stricken down were to contribute fifty dollars to- 
wards furnishing the church, also giving a chart of 
the books of the Bible to the Sabbath School; and 
planting an ivy against the front of the church. We 
never see this ivy as it climbs the walls of the Berean 
Church without thinking of the triumphant death and 
the now unspeakable glory of the giver. 

Judge Allison, Joseph J. Martin, whose last act on 
earth was to pledge twenty-five dollars towards the Be- 
rean parsonage; John Mclnnis, who gave lime for the 
building; Abram Coats, Gustavus Benson, Mrs. Gus- 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



193 



tavus Benson, David Thain, Judge Peirce, Samuel S. 
Huey, Hamilton Disston, Alexander Whilden, Alex- 
ander Crow, William Massey, William Brockie, H. H. 
Houston, Joseph Harvey, James A. Freeman, Dr. D. 
Hayes Agnew, E. A. Rollins, Daniel D. Hittner, who 
contributed all the marble for the front of the church; 
John Baird, the Misses Faries, Mrs. Mary Disston, Mrs. 
Robert Lenox Kennedy, Mrs. Mary Byard, and many 
others who have answered the roll call above. 

But of the friends who remain none have done more 
to assist in paying off the debt on the property and to 
cheer the spirits of the writer than these, viz. : Dr. Stew- 
art, who has been instant in season and out of season in 
assisting the Berean Church and pastor; we cannot de- 
scribe how greatly we are indebted to this valuable friend 
for counsel, advice and financial assistance; Messrs. 
George S. Graham and Samuel B. Huey. The former 
our able and honored District Attorney, the latter one of 
our most distinguished and successful lawyers. These 
two friends have rendered gratuitously all our legal ad- 
vice, besides contributing frequently towards the debt 
on the property; Messrs. John H. Converse and William 
P. Henszey and Dr. Edwin Williams, who have been 
most friendly to the writer and liberal towards his 
church. Frequently have we gone to them when we 
were greatly embarrassed financially, indeed not know- 
ing where to go nor what to do, and they have never 
sent us away empty. 

Let me remark here, it may seem from what has been 
said in these pages that we imposed upon our friends, 
that upon the least pressure for funds we called upon 
them. Nothing could be further from the truth. We 
never called upon these friends, whose hearts are open 
to almost every demand of charity, unless we were driven 
to the last extreme. And when we were forced to apply 
to them it would be with the greatest reluctance and 
misgiving, not so much from the fear of being refused as 
13 



i 9 4 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



from the fear of the impression that might be given of 
heartlessness towards them on our part. 

Messrs. William S. Reyburn, William M. Cramp, J. 
Renwick Hogg, Aaron Fries, Thomas G. Gayley, Rob't 
M. Hogue, Mrs. Anna Coates, Mrs. Catharine Singerly, 
Mrs. John Mclnnis, Miss Mary Otto, Mrs. Catharine L. 
Hogg and Miss Emma Hogg contributed most liberally 
towards the debt on the property of the Berean Church, 
and also towards the support of the pastor whenever 
there was a demand for it. Regularly every Christmas, 
for a number of years, Mr. Reyburn has sent the writer 
his check towards his personal support, and in the spring 
Mrs. Catharine L. Hogg and her daughters, their checks ; 
Miss Mary Otto contributes annually towards the same, 
and also Mr. J. Renwick Hogg, while the other friends 
stand ready to contribute as the emergency demands, 
but they do not bind themselves to any special amount. 
But the whole amount received in any one year from 
all the friends combined has been less than $200, which 
is included in the receipts of the church. 

But of the friends who have been of the most substan- 
tial assistance to the writer in the work of the Berean 
Church were one Who will not permit her name to be 
used and Mr. John McGill. Too much cannot be said 
in praise of these friends. The interest which they have 
shown and spirit they have manifested all the way along 
almost from the very beginning of the work has been 
most surprising and praiseworthy, and which is worthy 
of imitation by all who are interested in the welfare of 
the poor. I know that these friends will be annoyed at 
this public exhibition of their acts, as they shrink from 
every public parade of what they do in this direction. 
But we feel that we would be untrue to them if we did 
not make special mention of their work in the Berean 
Church. 

In the winter of 1884 and 1885 the writer called upon 
the husband of the friend alluded to at his residence, and 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



195 



wished to know whether in his judgment his wife could 
be secured as teacher in the Berean Sabbath School. 
We explained that there was a great scarcity of teachers 
in the school, and that several of those who were teach- 
ing were not at all competent; that what we wanted 
were competent Christian teachers. 

"Mr. Anderson," he said, "my wife is not strong, and 
she could not take upon herself the responsibility of a 
Sabbath School class; besides, if she could teach at all 
it should be at her own church. No, Mr. Anderson, 

Mrs. cannot teach." As Mr. was so very 

much opposed to his wife taking upon herself the re- 
sponsibility of a class in the Berean Sabbath School, we 
at once dismissed the thought from our mind, especially 
when we knew that he was a true friend both of the 
Berean Church and of the pastor, which he had shown in 
many ways. 

Early in the spring of 1885 we were called upon by 

Mrs. herself. After talking about the work for 

some time, looking us squarely in the face, she said: 
"Mr. Anderson, you must pardon me for the request I 
am about to make, and if you do not approve of it please 
do not hesitate to say so. I want to teach a class in 
your Sabbath School. I do not want to take any other 
person's class, or to have a class composed of scholars 
already in the school, but a class composed wholly of 
new scholars whom I shall gather in. Of late I have 
been very much interested in the coachmen, and would 
be glad to have a class in your school composed of them, 
if you will give me space." 

We could hardly believe our ears, and it was with ef- 
fort that we were able to reply. Finally we said : "Mrs. 

, did Mr. say anything to you about taking 

a class in my Sabbath School?" "Not anything," she 
said. "Did he tell you that I had been to see him about 
your taking a class?" "No, not a word," she said. 
"Then," we said, "it is of the Lord's directing, and 



PRESS YTERIANISM. 



nothing would give me greater delight and pleasure than 
to have you take a class in my Sabbath School, and I 
do not want you to go out after a class, either, but take 
one already formed, whose teacher is unable to go on 
with it." But she preferred to have a class composed 
of coachmen, whom she regarded as being very much 
neglected. 

This was on Monday, and she left with the under- 
standing that she would devote the week in calling upon 
coachmen and invite them to a class the next Sabbath. 

While we admired Mrs. 's earnest Christian 

spirit and zeal, we felt sure that we knew the class re- 
ferred to better than she, and this particular man, and we 
said if she succeeded in getting him into a class in one 
week she deserved the greatest commendation. The un- 
derstanding was she would report the results of her visits 
at the end of the week. 

On Saturday morning she again called, radiant over 
her success. She presented a list of over a score who 
had promised most faithfully to be present the next day, 
the Sabbath. We tried to conceal the smile, for we well 

knew they were simply imposing upon Mrs. 's 

credulity, and that not one of them intended to be pres- 
ent. We ventured to suggest that she should not be 
disappointed should her class fail to put in an appearance, 
as there was a class needing a teacher which she could 
have. But she would not encourage the thought for a 
moment that they would disappoint her after having 
promised so faithfully to be present. All she asked, she 
said, was space for her class. 

The next Sabbath the dear good lady came, and she 
was given the space she wanted. But we are sorry to 
say that the only occupant of that space, which was 

most ample, was Mrs. . She felt sure, she said, 

that they were compelled to go out with their carriages 
was the cause of their absence. She decided to 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



97 



devote another week in visiting them, and report the 
result of her efforts. 

On Saturday at the end of the week, as before, she was 
able to give a still more encouraging report. It was just 
as she had feared, she said. Those who had promised to 
be present on the Sabbath previous had been prevented 
by being comeplled to drive, but they were all coming 
out this Sabbath, and a number of others besides, whom 
she had seen. 

The next day she was on time at the hour appointed, 
and took her seat in the space assigned, but as the Sab- 
bath before, not one man of those who had promised 
her put in his appearance. She alone was the sole occu- 
pant of the space which had been assigned her. 

Her suspicions were now aroused that something was 
wrong, and she reluctantly consented to take the class 
which needed a teacher, provided that her proposed class 
did not come. But that class of coachmen have not put 

in an appearance as a class yet, while Mrs. — has 

been teaching regularly from that time to the present the 
class of young women which had been offered her at the 
beginning. Hence, for eleven years this noble woman 
has been one of our most faithful and devoted teachers. 
Rain or shine, hot or cold, sick or well, she is found at 
her post, always cheerful and ready with an encouraging 
word for both scholar and teacher. Many times have 
we been cheered and enabled to take hold with renewed 
energy of the work after a hearty shake of the hand and 
a few encouraging words from her, though when we 
came into the school it was with a heavy heart and dis- 
couraged look. Retiring, unostentatious, unobtrusive, 

no one not knowing Mrs. would take her to be a 

lady of wealth and as belonging to one of the oldest and 
most distinguished families in the city of Philadelphia, 
and yet such is the fact; and notwithstanding this fact, 
she is instant in season and out of season with the 
work of the Master. Hardly a week passes wheft^she 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



will not be seen visiting the homes of the poor and needy, 
administering to the sick and distressed, or speaking a 
word to the wayward about the salvation of their souls. 

There is no woman, white or colored, who is better 
known in the city of Philadelphia than she, and there is 
no one who is more highly esteemed and beloved. 
Her influence in the Berean Church is a benediction, old 
and young looking upon her as a sincere friend, and 
they are anxious to carry out her every wish. And this 
influence she exerts not by asserting herself, or by in- 
fringing upon, or usurping the rights of the pastor. On 
the contrary she never takes a step without consulting 
him, so that he is just as anxious to see her wishes 
obeyed as the people are to obey them. In this re- 
spect Mrs. is an example for all workers among 

the poor. 

There are too many otherwise good men and women 
benefactors, who utterly fail in their efforts to benefit the 
distressed because of the intrusive and patronizing man- 
ner in which they impress themselves upon them. No 
man or woman can benefit another, no matter how earn- 
estly they labor, if he impresses him that what he does is 
from a sense of pity and not from a sense of love. There 
are no people, no matter how poor or degraded, but what 
will welcome the earnest Christian worker who comes in 
the spirit of Christ, and the greater the influence of the 
worker, the higher his family standing, if he but have the 
spirit of Christ, the greater will be his influence among 

those he would help. Mrs. also has shown her 

interest in the Berean Church by her liberal contribu- 
tions to the church, as has every member of her family, 
she having contributed not only frequently to the church 
when it was in course of erection, but to the debt, and as 
a crowning act sent her check for one thousand dollars 
to assist in fitting up the basement, which, by the original 
plan, was to be nothing more than a cellar, but which is 
now a well appointed basement, in which the Sabbath 
School and other meetings are held. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



199 



Again, when the pastor of the church was prostrated 

nervously, Mrs. and her son assisted him to take 

a sea voyage, when he went as far as St. John's, New- 
foundland, visiting in the meantime* Charlottetown, 
Prince Edward's Island, the Bras d 'Or Lakes, Sidney, 
Baddeck, Port Hawksberry, Halifax and St. John's, 
New Brunswick and Boston. In addition to what Mrs. 
has given to the church proper, she has contrib- 
uted liberally towards the parsonage also. 

Among the warmest and most substantial supporters 
of the Berean Church and its pastor are Mrs. Catharine 
L. Hogg and her daughters. These friends, while not 
teachers in the Sabbath School, have been almost from 
the very beginning of the Berean Church the very best 
supporters of the work, contributing almost yearly 
towards the debt and the pastor's support as well. 
These dear Christian friends, with a few others who de- 
serve special mention, such as Mrs. Thomas Wood, Mrs. 
John Mclnnis, Mrs. Catharine Singerly, Mrs. Anna 
Coates, Mrs. William Massey, Mrs. Mary Massey, the 
Misses Otto and the Misses Bercley, are true friends of 
the Berean Church, and have done much to keep up the 
spirits and encourage the zeal of its pastor. 

But devoted as we feel these friends are to the work, 
and much as we appreciate them, we are sure that we 
have never once taken advantage of their friendship, or 
imposed upon their liberality. Never have we gone to 
them for assistance for ourselves personally unless the 
necessity of the case compelled us. 

Mrs. Coates, in addition to her annual subscription, as- 
sisted us to the World's Fair, which was wholly unex- 
pected, and for which she shall ever be held in grateful 
remembrance. All other money that has been contrib- 
uted went towards paying off the property debt, or the 
carrying on of some line of Christian work in the 
church. 



200 



PRESB YTERIAN1SM. 



Mr. John McGill. 

But the friend of the Berean Church who stands pre- 
eminently above and beyond all others, simply because 
he has done more than all others to make it possible for 
the church to succeed, is Mr. McGill. Too much can 
not be said in praise of this friend. 

In the first place, Mr. McGill is one of the most un- 
selfish men that it has been our good fortune to meet. 
All his labors in the Berean Church, from the beginning 
to the present, have been with a keen sense of the highest 
good of the people; and yet, the superficial or casual ob- 
server would judge that his interest was no deeper, and 
went no farther than that which concerned the business 
or financial welfare of the church, simply because of the 
great interest he has taken in the building of the church 
and parsonage, and the paying off of the debt on the 
same. But the pastor of the Berean Church knows that 
nothing could be further from the truth. 

Mr. McGill is a man of few words, careful thought, ac- 
curate judgment and swift action, and from force of 
habit he is most methodical and business-like in every- 
thing he undertakes and does. 

It is because of this business-like and methodical way 
he has of doing everything that has given the casual and 
superficial observer the impression that he has no higher 
motive for assisting a church, or any other charity, than 
the help he can render it from a business-like standpoint. 

But the writer knows that deep down and beyond this 
his chief motive for rendering assistance is the hope of 
producing the highest intellectual and spiritual good pos- 
sible of the enterprise needing assistance. After having 
secured his confidence, one cannot find a truer friend 
than he. Seldom have we gone to his office after he 
had come to know us, that he did not inquire after the in- 
tellectual and spiritual wants of the people; how best to 
reach them, etc. 

Many times during the years of our acquaintance he 




JOHN McGII^. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



20 1 



has talked with us over an hour at a time in his office 
about the condition of the colored people of Philadelphia 
and throughout the country generally. Being ignorant 
of the people he was anxious to know the facts concern- 
ing them, hence he would inquire of their wants ; the ob- 
stacles in the way of their progress, internal and ex- 
ternal; their advantages and disadvantages; their fail- 
ures and successes and their future. He listened at- 
tentively to everything we could give him relative to the 
subject. He would also visit colored districts in the city, 
and confer with leading men of the race concerning the 
condition of their people. 

And when he would go on visits of business or pleas- 
ure to the South and Southwest, he would always make 
it an object to see the people in their true condition, as 
they live in their homes, on the farms and plantations, 
and not judge them as many would-be reformers do by 
the ribald class, which may be seen at any time lounging 
about the depots and corners of the streets. He would 
visit all classes of the people, as they are engaged in 
their different callings. 

Thus he familiarized himself with their schools, and 
the progress they were making educationally, so that to- 
day there are few men in the city of Philadelphia who 
are better acquainted with the history and the present 
condition of the colored people of this city and of the 
country than he. And no one has a more hopeful view of 
their future. 

Mr. McGill believes that the Negro of the United 
States has a bright future, but that it is in his own hands. 
He must be his own architect, assisted, to be sure, but 
that the strength of character which he needs and must 
have in order to be respected and honored he can secure 
only by dint of his own efforts. 

Mr. McGill's interest in the colored people is exhibited 
by his work in the Berean Church ever since the writer 
secured his attention to this enterprise, in the fall of 



202 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



1882, fifteen years ago; from that time to the present 
he has never abated in his interest. Having not only 
purchased the grounds and erected the buildings, and re- 
ceived in dribs the collections until he was reimbursed of 
money advanced, as has been shown in these pages, but 
he has taken a most lively interest in everything pertain- 
ing to the development of the enterprise, from that 
time to the present. 

On the evening of the fourth Thursday in each month 
he is found regularly at his post, in the basement of the 
church, as Treasurer of the Berean Building and Loan 
Association, unless absent from the city, which has not 
occurred more than half a dozen times in a period of 
nine years. The value of having a friend of his wealth 
and business standing in the city, to occupy a position of 
this kind, cannot be overestimated. His remarkable pa- 
tience, clear judgment, valuable advice and extensive ex- 
perience as a practical business man, are qualities which 
especially fit him to be of the greatest value to the people 
whom the Berean Building and Loan Association was 
intended to aid. For few of the people having any spec- 
ial training along business lines, and all being poor and 
for the most part improvident, there was need that there 
should be one who had the financial standing of Mr. 
McGill, to occupy the position in the association which 
he does in order to give it both standing and influence, 
and thus secure the confidence of all parties concerned. 

Mr. McGill has been an incentive to the members of 
the Association to save their earnings, many are in- 
debted to him for the homes they are buying. Upward of 
fifty homes have been purchased through the association 
since its organization, and its assets are over $60,000. 

Mr. McGill aside from contributing liberally to- 
wards the Berean Church namely, two hundred and fifty 
dollars at one time, twenty-five hundred dollars at an- 
other, and one thousand dollars at another, and smaller 
contributions from time to time, before and after, the whole 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



203 



amounting to over four thousands dollars, besides giving 
his personal attention to the purchase of the lots and erec- 
tion of the buildings, &c., he has saved the church about 
three thousand dollars by business transactions and con- 
tributions with contractors and merchants from whom 
material was purchased, making in all a grand total of 
upwards of eight thousand dollars, which he indirectly 
secured for, and turned over to the Berean Church. 
Now when there is taken in to consideration the fact that 
Mr. McGill has thrown his influence on the side of the 
Berean Church ever since he first became actively inter- 
ested, in the Fall of 1882 up to the present time, advis- 
ing and counselling the pastor; sacrificing his rest by at- 
tending the meetings of the Building and Loan Asso- 
ciation, receiving without restriction or resentment 
the members of the association at his office at any time, 
no matter how greatly he might be crowded with the 
business of his great firm, the Pequea Mills, at the time; 
listening attentively to their requests, fears, and com- 
plaints; also patiently and most painstakingly instruct- 
ing them in the principles of Building Associations ; we 
say after all that he has done for the uplifting of the 
colored people of the city of Philadelphia and land, that 
he is a most exceptional man. We have been intimately 
acquainted with Mr. McGill in the work of the Berean 
Church all these years. We have observed him from 
almost every point of view, and we are prepared to say 
that there is not a man in the city of Philadelphia, white 
or black in all our range of acquaintances who would 
have withstood what he has. 

False Friends. 

There have been brought against him. influences ad- 
verse to what he was doing for the Berean Church and the 
colored people, which would have changed the mind and 
caused almost any other man to have given up in dis- 
gust; but like the great rock in the Ocean which with- 



204 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



stands the surging waves, and dashes them back in 
spray, so he has withstood the surging waves, of criti- 
cism, which was engendered by covetousness, prejudice 
and contempt, on the part of a Negro^hating class on the 
one hand, and fostered by ignorance, suspicion, narrow- 
ness and jealousy of a bigoted class of Negroes on the 
other. 

Every influence has been brought to bear both directly 
and indirectly by the former class to discourage Mr. 
McGill from doing so much for the colored people; 
while the latter were just as anxious to dissuade him 
from doing so much for the Berean Church out of 
jealousy. 

The arguments of the former stated that the colored 
people did not need to have so much done for them, 
for they were over thirty years removed from slavery. 
Building them such a beautiful church and parsonage 
would make them proud and conceited, since they were 
not used to such things. It would be setting a wrong 
precedent. There were many poor white congregations 
which were standing in greater need of such assistance, 
who would more highly appreciate it than the people 
for whom it was intended argued and insinuated the 
former. 

The arguments of the latter were, the colored people 
were nearly all Methodists and Baptists in the city and 
that they never would be anything else. 

The congregation of the Berean Church would al- 
ways be poor and small and therefore unable to sup- 
port the church. That Mr. McGill had better given 
the money to one of the Methodist or Baptist Churches, 
if he wanted to see grand results. But none of these 
arguments or all of them together had the effect of 
turning him from his determined purpose. 

They then resort to more subtle and adroit means to 
win his confidence, that of flattery. The work was most 
praiseworthy and commendable, but they insinuated, 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 205 

that Mr. Anderson's work was not commensurate with 
what he Mr. McGill, had done for him, or the assist- 
ance he was receiving. The congregations were small, 
that he did not seem to be getting hold of the people 
as it was supposed he would, and as he certainly ought 
from the assistance he had received. 

And they insinuated further, that it would be well for 
him to keep his eye on his, Mr. Anderson's, subscrip- 
tion list for the church. 

On the other hand the same parties would come to the 
pastor of the Berean Church and attempt to flatter him 
over his work, his wonderful self-forgetfulness, his heroic 
efforts and the great blessing he was to the colored peo- 
ple, the monument he had built, his persevering and un- 
tiring efforts, etc. 

But they insinuated that the property was in a very 
precarious shape, in that it was being held by one man, 
Mr. McGill. That while he was all right himself, yet 
should anything happen to him, the church would be 
placed in a very precarious or awkward condition, for 
unless he has so expressed it in writing there is no evi- 
dence whatever that his heirs would carry out his wishes ; 
and further, they felt that Mr. McGill ought to pay off 
the balance of the debt on the property, and thus re- 
lease him from soliciting entirely so as to give his time 
wholly to the building up of the spiritual part of the 
work. 

We invariably answered all these flatterers and insinu- 
ators that we had simply done our duty, which 
we had striven to do faithfully and well, while as regards 
Mr. McGill, we had the most profound faith and con- 
fidence in him, that he had done far more than we had 
the least conception he would do, and that it would be 
wrong to expect him to do more, that while we sup- 
posed that it might be more satisfactory, to all parties 
concerned, especially to those who had done the least 
for the church, but who were now trying to arouse sus- 



206 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



picion, if the property were all turned over to the 
church, yet so far as we were concerned we had every 
confidence in it being held as it was, until every vestige 
of debt was removed; for, we had been assured by Mr. 
McGill, that he had everything so fixed, that his family 
would carry out his wishes in regard to the Berean prop- 
erty, in case of death, and that we preferred to wait until 
the entire property, church and parsonage, were free from 
all incumbrance before turning it over, if the friends 
only would be patient. 

The jealously-disposed and narrow minded of the col- 
ored people were also engendering a feeling among their 
own people, which was prejudicial to the work, by say- 
ing that the property did not belong to the organization 
of the Berean Church, and gave as prima facia evidence 
the fact that the property was being held by one man. 

The Property Turned Over to the Church. 

It was because of these bickerings, jealousies, fault- 
findings, flatteries, hypocrisies and insinuations, that we 
asked Mr. McGill to turn the property over to the 
church, which he readily did, taking a mortgage of 
thirty-five hundred dollars, the amount due him on the 
parsonage. 

But Mr. McGill did not know it at the time, nor will 
he know it now, unless he reads it in these pages, the 
flatteries, the bickerings, the insinuations which were 
brought to bear upon us, to weaken our confidence, by 
those who professed to be fair to him. We had too 
high an esteem for him and regard for his feelings to let 
him see the deception which was being perpetrated upon 
us both. It is true, there were honest individuals, true 
friends of the enterprise, who felt that the property 
ought to be turned over, who looked at it from a purely 
business standpoint. We are not referring to these, but 
to those who had no object other than to destroy the 
confidence between us, and thus turn his interests from 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



207 



the colored people to themselves. We were once asked 
to tell the difference between a great man and a great 
mountain. When we were unable to answer, we were 
told that the closer one gets to a great man the smaller 
he seems, while the closer one approaches a great moun- 
tain the greater it appears. While this may be true of 
most men, it is not true of all, and it certainly is not true 
of Mr. McGill ; for the closer we get to him the more we 
see of his inner life, the grander does he appear; his pris- 
tine qualities shine forth in all of their effulgency and 
glory and exhibit him as the embodiment of a noble 
manhood. 

Intimately Acquainted with Mr. McGill for 
Fourteen Years, 

For fourteen years we have known him intimately, 
during which time we have seen him on an average of 
once a week; and yet on not a single occasion in all 
this time have we detected in him a defect in his moral 
make-up. We never heard him utter a word which on 
reflection would cause a blush, or do an act that was not 
in keeping with the golden rule. We do not mean to 
imply that he is perfect. He no doubt makes mistakes 
like every man, but his mistakes are more the mistakes 
of the head than the heart. 

Motives Displayed. 

He may be thought at times to be overly stern, exact- 
ing, or even merciless in his business transactions, by 
those who do not stop to inquire into or consider his 
real motives. We thought so ourselves. For example, 
when there was not a word of commendation given when 
we would turn over to him five hundred, seven 
hundred, or ten hundred, and as high as twelve 
hundred dollars, as the case might be, which had 
been raised by the most herculean efforts on 
our part; having walked the streets day and night for 



208 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



weeks, and that too often with a heavy heart and per- 
turbed brain, because of the want of comprehension and 
sympathy on the part of the colored people, and insults 
from the whites. 

Many times we would leave the last cent we had in 
our possession not reserving car fare, and occasionally 
take money that belonged to ourselves, so as to make 
the very largest returns possible, when we would receive 
instead of commendation, a gentle reminder that a good 
deal was still needed in order to pay off the indebted- 
ness, and that we could not push it too rapidly. 

Many times have we left Mr. McGiU's office with a 
feeling of disappointment in that he did not give us a 
word of encouragement, or drop a single expression by 
which we might know whether he were pleased or dis- 
pleased with the results of our efforts. But we know 
now, and we smile as we write, that his motive was the 
very best. Indeed it was just the course that was need- 
ed to enable us to reach the consummation of our plans, 
and at the same time to prevent us from being inflated 
with pride, and from becoming indifferent and lazy, to- 
wards which we have a natural tendency. The unsel- 
fish and magnanimous spirit of Mr. McGill, is further 
seen in that he applied the interest accruing from 
monies deposited with him at different times on the debt 
until the transfer of the property, towards the reduc- 
tion of the rent owed him by the pastor, on the dwelling 
1926 South College avenue, which he was unable to 
keep up, while so greatly taxed in raising money on the 
debt, thus by this act of kindness, saving him several 
months' rent, which is quite an item to a poor minister, 
of a poor church. 

Pledged to Remain Until Debt was Paid. 

We had pledged ourselves and our friends that we 
would not leave the work of the Berean Church no mat- 
ter how great the pressure until it would be entirely 
free from debt. For we said it would not be just to the 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



209 



friends, whom we had induced to contribute towards 
the enterprise, some of them liberally, and especially Mr. 
McGill, who had assumed the entire responsibility of 
advancing the money for the lot and buildings as well 
as having contributed largely himself, for us to leave 
before every vestige of debt was paid off. For there 
were indications that the people were not heartily united 
on us, as their pastor. 

For example, in the first place, there was the com- 
mon belief, that the builders of churches, cannot remain 
as ministers after their churches are built. 

Unwise Trustees. 

Secondly, there were several worldly wise trustees in 
the Berean Church, who looking only at the loaves and 
fishes, felt that they could have things more their own 
way, if the pastor, Mr. Anderson, was removed; ac- 
cordingly they had been holding star chamber meet- 
ings to have him removed. But they were too ignorant, 
to know that there was nothing that they could do 
legally to accomplish their purpose, for technically 
speaking, they were nothing more than an advisory 
board, since the church had not yet been incorporated. 

In one of these meetings, at which we happened to be 
present, it was proposed to borrow the money and pay 
Mr. McGill off, and take the property themselves; when 
the fact was, to pay him off at that time, they would 
have been obliged to borrow twenty-four thousand dol- 
lars, the interest of which alone, at 4 per cent, would 
have amounted to nine hundred and sixty dollars annu- 
ally, which at a glance can be seen would have been 
suicidal. The property would long since have been sold 
by the sheriff, and now the beautiful Berean Presbyterian 
Church and grounds would be remembered only as 
among the things of the past. We were compelled, 
therefore, from a sense of duty, to give these brethren 
to understand that they could not do this thing. And 
14 



2IO 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



when they began to be obstreperous and unreasonable 
we asked for a committee of the Presbytery to meet with 
us and advise concerning the matter. 

Advisory Committee. 

The committee met at the church on the 17th of Feb- 
ruary, 1885, an d after hearing both sides they unani- 
mously advised: 

1st. That inasmuch as the church was heavily in 
debt to Mr. John McGill, who as Trustee held the prop- 
erty in trust for the church, having made himself legally 
liable for all unpaid obligations against the property, that 
he be retained as trustee until the church would be in a 
condition to take it themselves, which would not be un- 
til after the debt was paid off. 

2d. In the event of the death or resignation of Mr. 
John McGill before the canceling of the debt, that the 
Presbytery nominate, or receive nominations from the 
Berean Church of a successor, but that the wishes of the 
church be carefully considered and accepted, unless con- 
trary to the judgment of Presbytery. 

3d. That inasmuch as the church had not been char- 
tered, it was not a corporate body; hence it was not in 
a condition legally to hold property, and that the then 
present active Trustee Board had not, in fact, any legal 
status, and hence could not hold property. They there- 
fore advised the dissolution of the Board of Trustees, 
and recommended that a Board of Deacons, in con- 
junction with the Session, take charge of and disburse 
all the finances in relation to the running expenses of the 
church, which would conform both to the scriptural 
teaching and the recommendation of the General As- 
sembly of the Presbyterian Church of the United States. 

The committee at the same time commended the self- 
denying spirit and liberality of the church, which had 
done well, considering their circumstances and means, 
and the perseverance and success of their pastor, Rev. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



211 



M. Anderson, who had solicited most of the funds which 
had been paid on the property. 

The congregation at once acted upon the resolutions 
of the committee and unanimously accepted and adopted 
their advice as their future rule of action. 

The committee consisted of Rev. Samuel Mutchmore, 
D. D., Rev. J. W. Bain, D. D., Rev. Robert Graham, 
D. D., Elder James Hogg, Elder Thomas Wood, Elder 
Reuel Stewart, M. D., and the Hon. George S. Graham, 
the District Attorney. 

In the Berean Church peace reigned, and peace has 
reigned ever since. Those who were causing the 
trouble, when they found that their influence was de- 
stroyed, left the church and went elsewhere, or re- 
mained out of church altogether. 

Proposed Resignation. 

In keeping with our avowed purpose we suffered 
nothing to weaken our interest in, or to divert our atten- 
tion from the Berean Church until every vestige of debt 
was removed, which achievement was reached and ap- 
propriately acknowledged by the grand jubilee given by 
the colored citizens of the city, irrespective of church or 
denomination on the 14th of May, 1891, ten years to a 
day, as has been shown from the time that the first sub- 
scription was made by Mr. Samuel H. Jarden. 

We were now free from our vow, and we felt that if 
the spiritual interest of the church would be advanced, 
and the work which had been begun along the different 
lines of church work would be more rapidly carried on 
and developed by some other brother, we would most 
gladly resign and go elsewhere. For while we were de- 
voted to the church and the work, and would rather 
preach in the Berean Church than any other, still we 
felt that the cause we represented was worth infinitely 
more than all personal considerations, and therefore the 
question to be considered was not whether we wanted to 



212 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



stay, but whether it would be best for the cause for us 
to stay. For we believed that if a live man was in the 
pulpit of the Berean Church, other things being equal, 
for example, a man who was a devout Christian and 
abreast of the times, and having nothing to do with the 
collecting of funds, there was no reason why he should 
not in a few years crowd the church and have an ag- 
gressive congregation. For the church building was 
beautiful, well appointed and central, and entirely paid 
off; besides, it had a perpetual insurance on the building 
of ten thousand dollars. In addition, pledges had been 
made of upwards of three thousand dollars towards pay- 
ing for the parsonage, a most beautiful building, which 
was built the same time as the church, on which there 
was an insurance of three thousand dollars. 

Accordingly, on the 15th of January, 1893, a call was 
read from the pulpit for a congregational meeting for 
Friday evening, January 27th, 1893, to ask the Presby- 
tery for a dissolution of the pastoral relation of the Rev. 
Matthew Anderson and the Berean Church. 

In a letter which was addressed to the church and 
the Trustee Board by the pastor, the following reasons 
were given for asking for a dissolution of the pastoral 
relation. 

First: — There was not given sufficient salary to sup- 
port the minister and his family. 

Second: — That he did not feel that he was having the 
hearty co-operation of the people in the northwestern 
section of the city, which was necessary in order to do 
the work which was needed to be done, and which he 
had in his heart to do. While the church is united, there 
has not been the interest manifested in the work gener- 
ally, and in the services of the church particularly, which 
he had hoped, and which he must have in order to work 
conscientiously. That he knew the want of interest was 
largely the result of his being so circumstanced, as not 
to be able to do any or but little missionary work, as the 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



213 



money for the property had to be raised principally by 
himself, this together with the fact that he was not re- 
ceiving sufficient salary to meet his wants necessarily 
prevented him from doing the missionary work, that was 
needed to be done, and which under other circumstances 
would be done. 

Third: — There were young men of ability who were 
available for the pulpit, who could do the work as well, 
and perhaps better, than the pastor, and who no doubt 
would have a more hearty support of the people; for 
laboring as he had been obliged to do to secure the 
property had the tendency to prejudice the minds of 
some, who were not in a condition to know the facts, or 
who were too narrow in their views to inquire into them. 
Besides, the property being out of debt, he could see 
no reason why a new man, of wisdom and understanding, 
should not meet with great success. 

Fourth: — He had felt for a long time that he had 
not the hearty sympathy and co-operation of his Pres- 
bytery in his work. It never seemed to him that his 
Presbytery understood the peculiar nature of his field, 
or cared to take the pains to inquire into it. The work 
of the Berean Church is a peculiar work. The people 
need training along many lines, not only as to their 
regular attendance of the services on the Sabbath, but 
along the lines of systematic giving, economy, frugality, 
co-operation and thrift. It must be seen that the people 
are poor, many of them very poor, and have not the 
means of a livelihood within their reach, which the poor 
members of our other churches have. 

Fifth: — In his judgment the glory of God demanded 
that a dissolution of the pastoral relation take place. 
The servant of Christ should labor where he can do the 
most for Him, and all personal considerations should 
be laid aside. He felt that the work in the Berean 
Church could be promoted more by some new man, and 
therefore he did not feel that it would be right or wise 



214 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



to stand in the way, and hoped that all who had taken an 
interest in him and his work all these years would now 
unite with him in asking Presbytery for a dissolution of 
the pastoral relation. 

The congregational meeting was largely attended, 
there being present not only the special friends of the 
pastor but also those who were thought to be against 
him. Dr. John B. Reeve, pastor of Central Presbyterian 
Church, on Lombard street, was chosen as Moderator. 
The most liberal opportunity was given for each one to 
express himself, and after a most lengthy but friendly 
discussion in our absence, the conclusion reached was 
that all should vote against the dissolution of the pas- 
toral relation. 

Resolutions. 

The following resolutions were read and unanimously 
adopted as expressive of the sentiment of the meeting: 

Whereas, Our respected pastor, the Rev. Matthew 
Anderson, has asked this congregation to join with him 
in requesting Presbytery to dissolve the present pastoral 
relation, and 

Whereas, The reasons assigned by him for his action 
are not any lack of harmony between pastor and people, 
but insufficient support and effort on the part of the 
people, therefore be it 

Resolved, That this congregation express its attach- 
ment to Mr. Anderson, and profound desire to keep him 
in his present position ; and that we pledge to him, with 
God's help, our earnest support in the future in all the 
work of the church, and that a committee be appointed 
by the chairman of the meeting to present Mr. Anderson 
with a petition from the people asking him to remain, 
and to inform him that a subscription list, securing at 
least thirty dollars per month, has been raised towards 
the salary; and be it 

Resolved, That the congregation defer all further ac- 
tion until Mr. Anderson has reconsidered his intention of 
resigning. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



215 



The following persons were sent as a committee to 
present to the pastor the above resolutions: Elder Jas. 
Porter, Wesley Taylor, Mrs. Hattie Ivey and Mrs. Amy 
Jeffers. 

We were surprised at the action of the congregation, 
especially when assured that some who had been the 
most outspoken in our favor were those whom we had 
regarded as being very much opposed to us. 

We replied to the committee that after seeing such a 
hearty expression of goodwill and sympathy on the part 
of the congregation, being as we were assured their 
unanimous expression, that we could not do other than 
yield to their wishes and take up the work anew. But 
we said that in taking up the work anew that we wanted 
to feel in our inmost soul that all would take up the 
work anew with us, for if all would put their shoulders 
to the wheel success would crown our every effort ; but if 
they would fold their hands and expect the pastor to do 
the work, failure was inevitable, but we believed better 
things of them. If they had all been in the cart hitherto 
and their pastor in the shafts dragging them along they 
had all gotten out now, and we hoped that they would 
remain out, and push and pull with us. 

Peace and Harmony. 

Since then there is not a church in the city of Phila- 
delphia which is more united than the pastor and people 
of Berean Church. And though the congregations are 
not large, yet we believe that the time is not distant 
when the church will be crowded. 

Up to the present time the pastor's hands have been 
tied so that he could do but little missionary work. First 
we had to raise the money for the grounds and church 
building. When this was paid off we turned our at- 
tention to the parsonage. When we will have raised 
thirty-five hundred dollars more so as to remove the 
mortgage on the parsonage, and three or four hundred 



2l6 



PRESB YTERIAMSM. 



dollars of a floating debt, our hands will be entirely 
loosened. 

Our prayer to God is that some one whom the Lord 
has blessed with this world's goods will have it in his 
heart to pay off this balance and thus relieve us of all 
further anxiety on the subject, so that we may devote our 
energy wholly to the social, intellectual and spiritual work 
of the church. We are sure that there are those in this 
city who would gladly give this balance if they knew 
the facts concerning what has been done, and the inabil- 
ity of the people in the field to do much. 

The Berean Church needs no outside defense. The 
work which has been accomplished is its best defense. 
Now we ask, if a small handful of people, with their 
pastor, were able under God to accomplish what the 
Berean Church has (comparatively) in so short a time, 
what would they not accomplish if they had the hearty 
co-operation, sympathy and support of the Christian 
people of the city of Philadelphia. Yes, what might 
they not do if they had but the sympathy and co-operation 
of the Presbyterian Church of the city of Philadelphia? 



CHAPTER XVI. 



■Fras*. Pitying the Negro. Obstacles in the Way 
of the Negro's Progress. 

There is a great deal of pity, but very little love and 
respect for the Negro. But pity that is not accompanied 
by love, awakened by a sense of brotherly feeling, always 
engenders contempt, and instead of benefitting the per- 
son or people who are its object, only tends to make 
them appear more pitiable and lessen their chances to 
rise. 

It is not that the good people of Philadelphia do not 
know the wants of the colored people that more is not 
done to alleviate them. They know them only too well ; 
but the trouble is they have no Christ-like feeling of love 
and philanthropy for the people. They know all about 
their faults, they can discourse most eloquently and de- 
scribe most vividly the deplorable condition of the 
colored people in the slum districts; they can tell all 
about the licentiousness, the viciousness, the indolence 
and the thriftlessness of the colored people of the city, 
but they cannot tell you anything about their virtues, 
their struggles against almost insurmountable obstacles 
and their triumphs. 

The church in Philadelphia is woefully ignorant con- 
cerning the Negro in her midst, notwithstanding her 
boasted wisdom and wise speculations on the subject. 

There is not a day that the writer is not pained and 
chagrined at the woful and inexcusable ignorance of 
otherwise well-informed Christian men and women in re- 
gard to the colored people, for example as to the number 
in the city, where they reside, the denominations repre- 
sented, the proportion that attend church, the amount of 
taxable property owned, the number of children attend- 

217 



218 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



ing school and their educational advancement. No one 
minister in twenty can answer these questions correctly, 
much less the members, while every one can discuss en- 
tertainingly upon the despicable Negro. Now, why is 
this? It is because they have from force of habit been 
looking upon the Negro with pity and not with love. 
Now, it is just as impossible to benefit a people with cold 
pity as it is to be thawed out with icicles when freezing. 

There must be in one a feUow-feeling, a sincere de- 
sire for the good of all men, a willingness to stoop to lift 
up the most degraded because he is a man, stamped in 
the image of God and entitled to all the God given rights 
and privileges in common with other men, if he would 
exhibit the spirit of Christ as well as that of a humanitar- 
ian, which spirit even the heathen possesses who is led 
only by the light of nature. 

No one can turn on his heel and excuse himself from 
being personally interested in any peopte because he is of 
a different race or nationality, for God Almighty has 
made him his brother's keeper, and his brother is not 
confined to certain geographical, ethnological or socio- 
logical lines, but every and any man within the reach of 
his influence is his brother, whether it is his next-door 
neighbor or is in the slums of our great cities, along the 
frigid slopes of Siberia or on the burning sands of Arabia 
or Africa. 

And just so far as this spirit of brotherly love is carried 
out are communities raised to higher planes, and are the 
great underlying principles and truths of the Christian 
religion, as taught in the Bible, received and obeyed. 

It is a truism that a chain is no stronger than its weak- 
est link, and it is a truism equally self-evident that the 
healthfulness of a community is no sounder than its 
most unhealthy district. For every community is an or- 
ganic union, a body politic, every part of which is inti- 
mately connected with and affected by each other. 
Therefore, if one part is infected with some deadly dis- 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



219 



ease, this part, if not healed, will in turn infect the other 
parts, and in time the whole community will be brought 
down to the same diseased condition, physically. 

In like manner, if a part of a community is infected by 
some deadly moral disease, a moral miasma, in fact, unless 
the part infected is cured, even though incision were 
used to remove the diseased part, the whole Community 
will be infected in time, and brought down to the same 
moral level. Therefore, no one need feel that he is safe 
from the disease because he does not live in the infected 
district. He may live in the most aristocratic part of the 
city, his residence may be palatial, and his servants 
liveried; yet, unless the infected district is healed he and 
his stand in immediate danger of being infected with the 
same disease. For as the germs of small pox, yellow 
fever and cholera are borne on the wings of the wind, and 
infect all on whom they light, so the deadly germs of 
moral diseases are carried on the wings of moral winds 
and will infect all on whom they fall. 

If this be true, and we feel sure that it is, then it be- 
hooves every man, if for no other reason than from a 
sense of self preservation, that he be personally inter- 
ested in his fellowman, and do all in his power to better 
his condition. For there is no more vital connection be- 
tween a chain and its individual links than there is 
between the intellectual and influential classes of a town 
or city, or of a body politic, and the most humble and 
degraded classes. 

An affection of the hand or foot affects the whole 
body; and so does an affection among the most distant 
and uninfluential classes in a community affect the whole 
community. Now, if the colored people belong to these 
distant and uninfluential classes, and are affected with 
licentiousness, indolence, thriftlessness, crime, these 
moral maladies will surely infect the entire community 
unless counteracted and removed by infusing among 



220 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



them wholesome influences which must be conveyed by 
loving hands and sympathetic hearts. 

Let the Negro feel that he is wanted, not tolerated, 
that he is loved, not pitied, that he is trusted, not doubted, 
that he is believed, not questioned, and he will come out of 
the slough and undergo a transformation in social, intel- 
lectual and moral reform which will be both a surprise and 
an encouragement to all who are interested in his eleva- 
tion. Let the obstacles which now impede the Negro's 
progress be removed, and there be given to him the same 
advantages and opportunities for improvement that are 
given the Scandinavian, the Russian, the Irishman, or 
any other foreign-born citizen, and he will go forward as 
rapidly along the lines of social, intellectual, financial, 
and moral improvement as any other people. 

Second. Too Great Distance Between the White 
and Colored People. 

The fact is, there is too great distance between the 
white and colored people of this country. Too much 
time is given to the criticism of each other's short 
comings, and too little to the commending of each other's 
virtues. Especially is this true of the white people in 
their attitude towards the colored. And the reason is, 
because of the difference in the opportunities of the two 
people. The one has had centuries of improvement, 
while the other only since the war; and even in that 
short time their opportunities have been very much cur- 
tailed and abridged. Now, it is most natural, if one 
should remember the fact, that the school which the 
Negro had for two hundred and fifty years was such as 
would only engender vice, and that his opportunities for 
improvement since freedom were not commensurate with 
his wants, and nothing in comparison with those of the 
whites, that only his most objectionable features could 
be seen by such a one, notwithstanding the phenomenal 
progress he has made along all lines of social, intellectual, 
financial and moral reforms within the last thirty years. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



221 



Now, if one's prejudice towards a people is such that 
he is blinded to their virtues he is sure in his thoughts 
and actions towards them to hold up their vices. This 
accounts for the contemptible treatment which the Negro 
often receives from many otherwise good people, men 
and women, who are considered a benefit to the com- 
munity, real benefactors, not unfrequently officials high 
in the church of Christ, who is no respecter of persons, 
and even ministers of the gospel. 

The man or the woman who has no respect for the 
manhood of the Negro is his worst enemy, no matter 
how much he may profess to be his friend; for all that a 
man has that is of real worth to him is his manhood. 
Deprive him of this and you make him a brute. He may 
be most elegantly clothed and richly fed, his manners 
may be most courtly, but if he has no manhood, if there 
is nothing in him of real native worth, no Godlike quali- 
ties, he is nothing more than a cultivated animal, such as 
may be seen in the highly-bred racer or the acting dog or 
ass of the circus. 

Third. Unmanly Negroes. 

And there are too many Negroes, we are sorry to say, 
who help to make this impression; who act in a 
way that only tends to confirm the class referred to in the 
opinion which they have of the Negro; mere fools, 
sycophants, and charlatans, who, together with those 
around whom they fawn and by whom they are despised, 
are doing more to obstruct the progress of the race than 
all that is being done to help it forward. And what is 
worse, those unmanly Negroes are not confined to the 
ignorant and unlettered class, but many of them are 
educated, having graduated at some of our best schools 
and colleges, a few of whom are occupying places of 
honor and trust within the gift of the State and nation. 
And yet, notwithstanding their advantages and positions, 
they act in a way that is most humiliating and belittling, 



222 



FRESB YTERIANISM. 



and standing as they do often as the representatives of 
the race, they give the impression that not only are they 
devoid of all principle and manly character, but that the 
race is as well. 

Such Negroes we despise with all the energy of our 
being; we hate them with a righteous hatred, and if we 
could eliminate them from the rest of the race, and con- 
sign them to some region where their evil influence and 
example could not be felt it would give us a sense of the 
greatest satisfaction and relief. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



Compelled to Resort to Severe Measures 
to Gain Respect. 

It is because of the impression which these Negroes 
make and the impression which is generally entertained 
towards the colored people of the United States, that 
has caused us to resent every attempt to belittle or to 
reflect upon our manhood. Not because of our own 
personal feelings merely, for as before stated, in these 
pages, so far as we are concerned, personally, we care 
but little and the insult or implication might have been 
suffered to pass unnoticed; but as the representative of 
a church, as well as a representaive of eight millions of 
people, whose manhood was being assailed, we felt it 
our duty to resent every reflection upon our manhood, 
whether made by friend or foe. For nothing was more 
evident than that heroic measures were needed to coun- 
teract views, which were being entertained concerning 
the manhood of the Negro. Hence when we entered 
upon the work of soliciting funds for the purchase of 
a lot, and the erection of a building for the Berean Pres- 
byterian Church of Philadelphia, we resolved from the 
very first that we would disabuse the minds of all, that 
we were a Reverend colored beggar, who goes around 
asking assistance for his poor colored brethren, and, who 
receives most thankfully and satisfactorily any amount 
from ten cents to a dollar, which the charitably disposed 
might be inclined to give. 

From the very first we gave all to understand, not in 
a braggadocio manner, but in a humble, sincere, Chris- 
tian spirit, that we were a Presbyterian minister, having 
behind us the great Presbyterian Church, and having 

223 



224 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



passed through the same schools of learning, we were 
therefore entitled to the same generous assistance, and 
cordial fellowship, as was given to any new enterprise 
under the supervision of the Presbytery. 

Accordingly when we commenced soliciting subscrip- 
tions if there would be sent to us by the lady or gentle- 
man of the house, as we stood in the vestibule or hall, 
(those days we were seldom admitted beyond the vesti- 
bule or hall), twenty-five or fifty cents, or even a dollar, 
we would ask for an interview with the donor, in order 
to explain the nature of our enterprise, and if this 
was- not granted, we would then return the coin to the 
waiter, with the request that he should give the contri- 
butor our compliments, and say, that we were not in 
want, and therefore, were not receiving alms, and that 
we were sorry that they did not take the time, nor the 
pains to examine our papers, so as to know who we 
were, and the nature of our enterprise. 

A Wealthy Lady. 

A case in hand was at the home of one of the oldest 
and most aristocratic families in the country. The per- 
son was a widow, and she and her husband were both 
known throughout our church for their great liberality, 
and especially along the lines of church extension in the 
Presbyterian Church. Having such a reputation we 
naturally expected encouragement when we called at her 
house. 

It was on a bright, spring morning when we called. 
A big burly Irishman answered at the door. "Is Mrs. 

in," we asked. "Yes, she's an." "Can I see her?" 

we asked further. Faith an' I dono, I'll see." Be kind 
enough to hand her this letter of introduction." In a 
few moments he came down with 25 cents between his 
thumb and finger, "Missis told me to tell you that this 
is all she can do for ye this time," he said, at the same 
time handing us the twenty-five cents. "What," we 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



225 



said, "did she read my letter?'' we queried. "Faith and 
T dono." "Please go up and ask if she won't come down 
and see me, because I know she don't know the nature of 
my enterprise," we said. "Faith an' I will do nothing of 
the kind," he replied, at the same time moving toward 
the door to have us go. "Will you not take up my sub- 
scription book to her?" we pleaded. "No, and I will not 
do that, eather," he retorted in his Hibernian brogue. 
"Then," we said, "take this twenty-five cents and re- 
turn it to Mrs. with my compliments, and say 

to her for me that I am not receiving twenty-five cents." 

The fellow took it with a contemptuous grin, and then 
opened the door and slammed it after us. After we left 
we said to ourselves: "That chuckle-headed Irishman is 
now laughing at our expense, and the chances are that he 

will not deliver our message to Mrs. , but will 

take the twenty-five cents and spend it on cigars or beer." 
The thought came to us like a flash, "write her." 

No sooner the thought than we went deliberately 

home and wrote thus: "Dear Mrs. : — I am very 

sorry that I felt obliged when at your residence this 
morning to return you the twenty-five cents which you 
kindly sent down to me by your waiter. I did it out of 
kindness and consideration for you. For I was certain 
you had not taken the pains to read my letter of recom- 
mendation of myself and work, but thought simply that I 
was one of the many unfortunate who ask for alms at 
your door. I am certain from your reputation as a phil- 
anthropist, had you known I was recommended by some 
of the most eminent and substantial gentlemen in the 
city of Philadelphia, clerical and laymen, and that a num- 
ber of friends had contributed most liberally towards the 
enterprise, who are friends of yours, some of whom are 

your immediate neighbors, as for example Dr. , 

$500; Mr. C. , $500; Mrs. , $75; Miss M. 

, $100, some of whom are friends who live in your 

square and who attend your church, I say I am sure if 
15 



226 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



you had known these facts you would not have sent me 
twenty-five cents. I wanted the waiter to ask you to 
come down and see me, or take up to you my subscrip- 
tion book, but he positively refused. 

Hoping to hear from you at your convenience, I am 
Yours with regret, 

MATTHEW ANDERSON, 

Pastor Berean Church. 

The next morning we received a letter from Mrs. 

thanking us for writing her, and with her check enclosed 
for twenty-five dollars, and desired us to let her know 
from time to time how we were getting along. From 

-i that time until her death Mrs. was one of our 

best friends. It may be of interest to state that the 

• next time we called at Mrs. 's house our Irishman 

did not answer the door. 

A Pennsylvania Railroad Official. 

Another case in hand is in reference to a gentleman 
who was, and is still, in the management of the Pennsyl- 
vania Railroad. We called at this gentleman's residence 
late one summer afternoon. He was sitting in his shirt 
sleeves reading a newspaper at the head of the stairway 
leading from the entry where he could both see us and 
hear our message. 

Hearing his name mentioned he sprang up and came 
down like a flash, and accosted us thus: "Well, what 
do you want?" We told him as politely and as meekly 
as we could that we were soliciting subscriptions for the 
purchase of a lot and the erection of a building for the 
Berean Presbyterian Church. "Oh, I see," he said, "you 
are begging for a church." He then rushed to the door 
and threw it open, and then in the most brutish manner 
ordered us out, at the same time raising his foot to add 
emphasis to his demand. 

If we had been a dog, which had strayed into his resi- 
dence, we could not have been driven out more roughly. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



Never in all our experience in church work up to this 
time had we anything done to us which so wounded our 
feelings. For some time after leaving his house we 
were dazed and walked listlessly around, hardly knowing 
what to do or where to go, we were feeling so badly 
over the cruel manner in which we had been treated. 

We said, "Why should we who have been laboring so 
arduously and conscientiously in the interest of Christ be 
subjected to such treatment? What have we done that 
we should be thus cruelly used? Have we not been 
called of God to this work? Have we not undergone the 
required preparation for it? Have we not the endorse- 
ment of the Presbytery and the brethren generally? Am- -4" ^ 

not this man's equal so far as natural and acquired abil- 
ity is concerned? And if so should fallow this gross in- <f 
suit to go unrebuked? Should •£ suffer a man to go unre- ^ 
buked who will with impunity insult one who calls upon 
him, even though he may be an educated and refined 
gentleman if his God had been pleased to clothe him in a 
livery bronze?? No! No!! No!!! a thousand times no, we 
answered; that man must be rebuked, though it may cost 
us every friend we have gained. 

No sooner decided than we went home immediately 
to our study and. wrote him a letter as follows: 
"My Dear Mr. : 

"It is with mingled pain and regret that I write you 
this evening. Pain because I feel wounded over the 
cruel manner in which you treated me this afternoon at 
your residence; regret that I was so stupid not to have 
known more about you before I called. 

"Let me assure you, my dear sir, that had I known the 
kind of a man you are I never would have crossed your 
threshold. Situated as you are, occupying a most promi- 
nent place in the management of one of the greatest cor- 
porations in the world, I naturally supposed that you 
would be interested in every public reform, and therefore 
that I would find in you a sympathetic friend and a 



228 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



ready supporter of my enterprise; and even if you had 
nothing to give I thought you would at least treat me 
and my work with consideration. 

"Let me say, my dear sir, that I have been in Philadel- 
phia now over five years; in that time I have mingled 
among all classes, from the highest to the lowest, and in 
all my experience of soliciting subscriptions in this city 
I have not had a single man in all this time who has 
treated me as contemptuously as the treatment which I 
received from you this afternoon. 

"There was no occasion whatever for this treatment, 
for there was nothing about my dress or action, or in 
anything that I said, which would warrant it. If you 
had been courteous enough to have examined my papers 
and books you would have seen that some of the hearti- 
est endorsers, both of myself and my enterprise, are gen- 
tlemen of high standing in this city, some of them known 
throughout the country, several of them being neighbors 
of yours, and who have backed their endorsement with 
liberal subscriptions. 

"Mr. , may I be pardoned for the assertion, 

should I be wrong, I am constrained to feel that you be- 
long to that class of white men, of whom there is a large 
number in this country, who look with contempt upon 
every man who is clad in a canopy of black, and who feel 
that no Negro has any rights which they are bound to 
respect; men whose souls are so small that five hundred 
of them can dance upon the point of a cambric needle. 
For no man would ruthlessly insult a gentleman who 
calls upon him at his home unless he has a soul of micro- 
scopic dimensions. 

"Hoping to hear from you at your convenience, I am 
"Yours with regret, 

"MATTHEW ANDERSON, 

"Pastor Berean Church." 

In the course of two weeks we received a response 
from Mr. , which in substance read as follows: 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



229 



"Dear Mr. Anderson: — 

' 'I regret the unhappy episode which took place when 
you called at my house. It was caused by the unseemly 
time you called, it being quite late, or at least after the 
time persons usually call in the interest of charity. Then, 
besides, I have been very much annoyed of late by a 
certain colored man, who claims to be begging for a 
church, but who, my waiters say (having investigated the 
case for me), is an impostor, and unfortunately he is just 
your build and color, and really I thought you were he. 

"I am interested in every moral reform, and especially 
in our city, and do contribute according to my ability 
to worthy charities. Now, if you will call at my office, 
233 South Fourth street, any forenoon I will take the 
time to examine your papers and books, and if convinced 
that it is a worthy cause, I will take pleasure in contribut- 
ing towards it. 

"I am very respectfully, 



We were now in a quandary to know what to do. We 
had bearded the lion in his den and had conquered. "Had 
we not better let well enough alone," we said ; "we are on 
top now; we may be underneath if we go to his office 
and be badly beaten." Pride asserted itself. We felt 
high, and we don't know but for a few hours that we felt 
big in our boots. 

But on a sober second thought we asked ourselves the 

question: "Why did I write Mr. that letter? Was 

it to wound his feelings? Give railing for railing, tooth 
for a tooth, and an eye for an eye, and thus get even with 
him? Or was it to cause him to stop and think, see his 
error and turn and do his duty as a Christian gentleman 
and a brother towards his fellow man? This he has 
already expressed a willingness to do. Should we not 
then assist him to carry out his purpose? Should we 
not meet him half way? Most assuredly we should," 
we said, and at once went to his office. 



230 



PRESB YTERIA NISM . 



He received us kindly, and after having carefully ex- 
amined our papers he gave us his check for fifteen dol- 
lars, and expressed his regret that he could not do better, 
but he hoped that he might help us further in the 

future. Mr. has been a friend of ours ever since, 

having on several occasions assisted us over the road. 

A Young Aristocratic Woman. 

In order to reach the greatest number of friends possi- 
ble we carried with us a number of books marked to re- 
ceive subscriptions of different amounts. For example, 
we had a five dollar book, a fifty dollar book, a hundred 
dollar book and a five hundred dollar book. If we 
called on a rich man, and he had the reputation of being 
benevolent, we would show him first the five hundred 
dollar book; and if this was too large then a three hun- 
dred dollar book, the two hundred and fifty dollar book, 
the two hundred dollar book or the one hundred dollar 
book, as the case might be. 

We had heard of a wealthy business man in West Phil- 
adelphia, and it was suggested that it might be well for 
us to call, as he was said to be a very nice man. 

Acting upon the suggestion, one very beautiful spring 
morning we called at his residence, but finding no one 
at home but the servants and a daughter, we concluded 
to make known the object of our visit to his daughter. 

The young lady was a beautiful girl, tall, graceful, 
lovely features, highly cultivated and most elegantly 
dressed. 

She received us most kindly and listened attentively to 
our story. "You are engaged in a most excellent work, 
Mr. Anderson," she replied. "And I am sure that it ap- 
peals to the hearts of all Christians, irrespective of de- 
nomination, and especially ought it to appeal to the 
Presbyterians. I shall help you, Mr. Anderson, for I 
never suffer a cause like this of yours to pass by without 
rendering it some assistance." 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



231 



And then stepping to the foot of the elegantly carved 
stairway, with her rich en-train Parisian gown lying in 
graceful folds behind her, she called up to her little baby 
sister thus: "Baby, drop down Sister's purse; her shop- 
ping purse, darling ; you will find it in Sister's room." 

When we heard shopping purse we said Oh! Oh!! 
Oh!!! that means twenty-five cents, certain. 

Sure enough when the purse was picked up from 
where Baby dropped it the young lady went over the 
change in her purse and picked out with her little deli- 
cate fingers most deftly the ubiquitous twenty-five cents, 
the amount the religious communities usually give to all 
Rev. colored beggars. 

"Here, Mr. Anderson, is twenty-five cents, which I 
give you most "willingly to help you in your most ex- 
cellent work." The ludicrous side of the thing now 
stood out in such bold outlines that we could hardly 
keep our equilibrium. However, we steeled ourselves, 
bowed our thanks most gracious^, and put it in our 
purse. Then taking our five hundred dollar book out 

of our pocket said : "Miss , please be kind enough 

to write your name and the amount which you have so 
kindly contributed." 

Thinking, of course, that it was the usual Rev. col- 
ored beggar's subscription book, she took it to record 
her name. But when she saw the amount which the 
book called for her countenance fell and she said: "Oh, 
Mr. Anderson, it is not necessary for me to record my 
name." "Oh, yes," we said, "I am compelled to keep a 
scrupulously correct account of all monies I raise, the 
names and amounts of those contributing, and the dis- 
position made of the money." "No, no, Mr. Anderson, 
I cannot record my name," she pled. "I must have it 
recorded, my dear Miss , for my own self protec- 
tion, and if you will not, I will be obliged then to record 
it myself." "Write it cash, then," she said. "I am 
sorry, Miss , but I must write the name in full 



-5- 



FRESB YTERIANISM. 



We then wrote in a bold hand under a five hundred dollar 
subscription the young lady's name and address, and the 
amount she contributed, much to her evident embarrass- 
ment, and then bowed ourselves out and left. 

A few days after this laughable experience we called at 
the office of the young lady's father. The old gentle- 
man seemed to be glad to see us. He examined all of 
our papers and books, and before we left subscribed 
twenty-live dollars, and expressed the hope that he 
would be able to do more before we would get through. 
The daughter evidently had told him of her experience. 

In the course of a couple of years we called at this 
gentleman's office again. We found his son; but he, to 
our great surprise and sorrow, had gone to his reward 
above. The son expressed great interest in our enter- 
prise, and wished to do something for us. "Mr. Ander- 
son," he said finally, "have you a watch?" "No," we said, 
"I never owned a watch." "Well," he continued, "if you 
will accept it, here is mine," pulling a most excellent 
silver watch out of his pocket, one of Waltham's best 

But when we politely declined the offer, on the ground 
that we did not want to deprive him of his watch, he 
said, "Yes, Mr. Anderson, you must take it; I have 
fallen heir to father's gold watch, so I don't really need 
this." 

With this information we accepted it, with thanks, and 
it has been our constant and most reliable companion 
ever since, though we have had it now over eleven years. 
In addition to this watch the young man gave us a large 
supply of writing paper, which was sufficient to supply 
all of our wants in this line for over a year. We could 
not help but feel as we were leaving this young man's 
office, with his watch and supply of paper, that the re- 
buke which we gently administered to his most beautiful 
and accomplished sister had produced most excellent 
results. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



233 



A Philanthropist. 

We will mention another example of the many battles 
we fought in the city of Philadelphia to compel recogni- 
tion of the manhood and worth of the Negro. 

Among the many philanthropists in the city of Phila- 
delphia, who had a world-wide reputation for large 
heartedness and princely gifts, there were none who had 

the reputation of Mr. . He was the ideal man of 

the city; rich, progressive, aspiring, magnanimous, public 
spirited, generous, kind, a man whose praises were upon 
every tongue and whose fame had reached every land. 

Mr. entertained like Croesus. The literati and 

great of every land on visiting our shores felt that their 
visit would be incomplete unless they paid a visit to the 
home of this distinguished son of our commonwealth. 

Having the reputation he had for benevolence we 
concluded that we would call upon him for a contribu- 
tion for our enterprise. 

We called at his office a number of times, before we 
were able to see him. We finally called and found him in, 
and will never forget the withering manner in which he 
received us. We had sent in our card, and had been 
waiting for over an hour for an interview. Finally he 
came to the door leading to his outer office where we 
were seated and addressed us thus: "Do you want to 
see me?" We bowed, and answered in the affirmative, 
and then proceeded as rapidly as we could to tell the na- 
ture of our mission and the object of our visit, when he 
cut us off abruptly with, "Go and tell Robert." We said 
to ourselves, "Who is Robert?" Is it some gentleman who 

is in the firm with Mr. , a companion and equal ?" 

we queried to ourselves. Very soon Robert came rub- 
bing his hands and smiling most obsequiously, "Mr. 

Anderson, Mr. sent me to ascertain what you 

wished." If we had been suddenly smitten with blind- 
ness we could not have been more surprised. And this 
is Robert, a member (?) of the firm, and the friend and 



234 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



companion of Mr. . Our first impulse was to 

leave the office in disgust. 

But on second thought we said, ''Goldsmith stooped 
to conquer, and why not we?" No sooner thought than 
we at once changed our demeanor and gave Robert all 
the details of our work and our wants. He went in and 

had a long interview with Mr. . When he came 

out he had on a triumphant look and handed us a ten 

dollar bill with Mr. 's compliments. We took it, 

thanked him kindly, and left, but we were thoroughly 
disgusted, not at Robert, but at Mr. . 

"Why should he, a man, noted for his benevolence, 
speak to us through Robert, his untutored servant, who 
sweeps and dusts his office, cleans the cuspidors and 
does the menial work generally, thought we? If we 
had been a white clergyman, or a white man of standing 
of any persuasion in the community, and had called to 

have an interview with Mr. , would he have turned 

us over to Robert? Mr. is a public man, we rea- 
soned, so are we. He is a great, generous-hearted, pub- 
lic-spirited business man, who preaches Christ, so do we 
preach Him, but in a less ostentations and more humble 
way. But is not our mission as important, and the peo- 
ple whom we represent, as much entitled to Mr. 's 

attention, as any high sounding object, on which he 
has bestowed his thousands? Were there not within 
our church, and the people it represents, the greatest 
possibilities? He should be told about it, for he is mak- 
ing the mistake of his life. Why not write him we said, 
for he is nothing more than a man like ourselves, and 
he brought no more in and will take no more out of 
the world, when he dies than we." 

Besides we had been told from a good and reliable 

source that Mr. had said in the presence of a 

number of personal friends, that his usual contributions 
to Negro Churches were ten dollars, and that he never 
exceeded twenty-five. We will write him, we said, and 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



235 



write him we did. The substance of our letter was as 
follows : 

Dear Mr. : 

When I called at your office to see you a few days 
since, I was greatly surprised and disappointed when you 
turned me over to Robert, the servant, who cleans your 
office, runs your errands and does the menial work gen- 
erally about your place. Not that I feel myself above 
Robert, by no means; I know him personally, he is a 
Christian gentleman, a man who is esteemed and re- 
spected by all who know him. No, it was not because 
you turned me over to Robert, the man, that I resent, 
but Robert, the servant, a thing which you would not 
have deigned to do a white minister of the Gospel, in the 
city of Philadelphia, or a reputable white man of any 
persuasion. 

"I am black, but I am entitled to the same respectful 
and gentlemanly consideration as any gentleman that 
calls at your office, and the cause I represent has as great 
claims upon your personal attention and liberality, as any 
to which you have responded. I regret to be obliged 
to write you thus, but my feelings were greatly wounded 
by your action, for I felt, and do still feel, that it was 
a direct thrust at the people whom I represent, and who 
are now T making a most manly fight to rise. 

"Hoping to hear from you at your convenience, I am 
"Yours with regret, most respectfully, 

"MATTHEW ANDERSON, 
"Pastor Berean Presbyterian Church." 

Mr. did not honor us with a reply to our letter, 

hence we soon thought that like many such let- 
ters, it had been consigned to the waste basket, 
with the mental reservation that both the writer and 
the cause that he represented should have no further 
consideration, so far as he was concerned. 

But in the course of a year, we concluded to call upon 
this distinguished philanthropist again, and as before we 



236 



PRESB YTER I A XISM. 



sent in our card. In a few minutes he appeared in the 
door as before, but a most radical change had overcome 
him ; instead of giving us a look of contempt, as hitherto, 
he now spoke to us pleasantly with a smile, and when he 
learned our business, he returned to his private office, 
and in a few moments returned, and with a smile, handed 
us his check, which to our surprise, was for one hun- 
dred dollars, and at the same time expressed the hope 
that we would succeed. We took the check, and im- 
pulsively took him by the hand and thanked him heartily 
and left, but as we were leaving, the words of Watts's 
came ringing in our ears, 

God moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders to perform; 

He plants his footsteps in the sea, 
And rides upon the storm. 

A Gentlemen. 

Sometime after this we called upon another gentle- 
man, distinguished for his philanthropy, but this one 
was a Presbyterian of the Presbyterians, and his home 
was a mecca for distinguished Presbyterian gatherings, 
and Presbyterians generally; and as he held a controlling- 
interest in the Pennsylvania Railroad, his influence was 
widely felt, not only in this city, but throughout the 
State and country. 

But having a pronounced hatred for all Reverend 
Colored Beggars, he gave us a very cool reception, for 
he had at once concluded that we belonged to this 
species of the genus homo. This gentleman was both 
an aristocrat and an autocrat. In all of his business, 
social and church relations, he was an aristocrat in his 
bearing; but in his attitude towards the poor, and Ne- 
groes, especially in his attitude, towards those calling 
upon him for charity, he was an autocrat. 

In our case he brought to bear all the autocracy that 
he had in reserve, and gave us such an overshadowing 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



237 



sense of his awe inspiring presence, that for the mo- 
ment we were bewildered, and with difficulty told the 
nature of our mission. Learning that we wanted a 
subscription for a church, "You people," he replied, 
"should stop your begging; you should pay for your own 
churches, and not scour the city and country to raise 
the money from other people." 

In reply to us, that the people were poor, he said, "it 
is largely their own fault, for they are very improvident; 
no people know less about the value of a dollar than 
they. They live far beyond their means, or from hand to 
mouth, consequently they are always poor." "That is 
largely true," we said, "but it is chiefly the result of the 
schooling which we have received in your Institution, 
the National University of American Slavery. We are 
reaping the harvest of your own sowing, and if the fruit 
is obnoxious it is because the seed was obnoxious which 
was sown." 

Finding that he was unwilling to converse on the sub- 
ject, we attempted to change the conversation by re- 
ferring to the obstacles in the way of the Negro, and 
ventured to ask whether he would not lend his great 
influence in assisting to remove these obstacles. We re- 
ferred him to the fact, that so far as we could learn, the 
great Pennsylvania Railroad, had not given a clerical 
position to a single colored man, out of the thousands 
that were in its employ all over the country, although 
there were many who were in every way competent to fill 
such positons." "To my personal knowledge," I said, 
"there were young colored men, who were employed in 
sweeping the offices, and cleaning the cuspidors at the 
general headquarters of the company, in Philadelphia, 
who were graduates of high schools and colleges, simply 
because the company was not willing to give them em- 
ployment at anything else." "It is not the company's fault 
sir," he curtly replied, "Your people have been placed 
by Providence in a certain niche, and in that niche they 



2 3 8 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



have to work out their own salvation, and they should 

be content." 

Finding our artillery too light for his coat of mail, 
we retreated to the quiet fastnesses of our study, where 
after due reflection we concluded to write him, and at 
once sent him the following letter: 

1926 So. Col. Ave., Phila., Sept. 6th, 1888. 
Mr. , 

Dear Sir: 

I have thought so much about the conversation I had 
with you yesterday morning, and especially the asser- 
tion that the colored people should be content with the 
niche in which they have been dropped, that I take the 
liberty to express myself further on the subject. 

Experience teaches me, Mr. , that there is no 

state more hurtful to one, than that which you would 
have the colored poeple to cultivate, viz.: contentment 
with the niche in which they happen to have fallen. 
The fact is this teaching, of being content with our lot, 
has been the curse of the Negro, and the chief cause 
of all of his oppressions and wrongs, and the weak and 
pitiable condition in which he is yet in, and the same 
condition would be true of any people, if this line of ar- 
gument was pursued for centuries by their superiors. 

There is a contentment I grant which is praiseworthy; 
it is the contentment of which the scriptures speak, the 
contentment which every man should exercise in the lot 
or work to which God has called him. For example, the 
boy on the farm ought not to chafe over the fact that he 
is poor, that his wages are small, or that he cannot dress 
as finely as some other boy, but he should resolve to 
work steadily, thoroughly and contentedly not merely for 
the wages, but for the good derived to himself, and with 
the object before him that, some day by industry and 
economy, he might be the owner, if not of that farm, 
another farm, and possibly farms. Likewise he who is 
employed in digging and grading the road beds of the 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



239 



great railroad systems of this country, or in sweeping 
out the offices of the same, ought not to fret because he 
is not one of the officers, but he should work contentedly 
with the hope that one day he would hold a controlling 
interest in the same. Such contentment as this is health- 
ful, it is manly, Godlike. 

But the contentment which has been generally urged 
upon the colored people, viz., to be content in a condi- 
tion which offers nothing higher, is the contentment of 
the ox or the ass, and is filled with decay and rottenness ; 
and whenever an individual or a people have been in- 
duced to accept it there will be seen a corresponding evi- 
dence of decay, or a lack of progress. 

There is nothing which gives me more inexpressible 
pleasure as I pass up and down the streets of our city, or 
cross the country, than the great commercial houses 
and manufacturing establishments on every side. I 
view with delight the great buildings which are now in 
course of construction in almost every part of our great 
city, and I inquire by what means such great wealth has 
been gathered by which these great massive piles are 
raised; and on every side there are pointed out to me 
men who are Croesus-like in wealth; men who a little 
while ago were poor boys, occupying some of the most 
menial positions in life, but who by dint of perseverance 
and economy, and by having an equal chance, have be- 
come the great, opulent, commercial, manufacturing and 
railroad kings that they are to-day. 

There was no name more familiar at my home, in 
Franklin county, Pa., than that of Tom Scott, as he was 
familiarly called there. The story of his boyhood in his 
humble home above Upton, his poverty, his engagement 
by the Pennsylvania Railroad and his gradual rise until 
he became the successful and honored President of this 
great corporation was held up by the fond parents in the 
neighborhood of his birth to be emulated by their chil- 
dren, and to-day as I pass over any part of this great 



240 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



railroad and view the immense traffic which it is carry- 
ing on, the vast property which it owns, and especially 
the ramifications of its branches into nearly every part 
of the Union, I can see the spirit of Tom Scott, as he 
was familiarly called by his old companions, still march- 
ing on, though incarnate, in those who are now mana- 
ging the road. 

I had the pleasure the other day to sit on a seat in a 
train beside one of the oldest living postmasters of the 
Philadelphia Post Office, from Philadelphia to Atlantic 
City, and he told me the story of his life. Fifty years 
ago he was a poor boy in this city ; his parents, with six 
children, lived in two rooms. He was employed at the 
post office to sweep it out, empty the spittoons, etc. 
But while in this position he studied hard to fit himself 
for a more lucrative position, that of a clerk, and he se- 
cured it. His next ambition was to be a mail agent. 
This he also secured, and finally received the appoint- 
ment of post master. He is now an aged gentleman and 
is living off the income of his means. 

Now, if he had been content with his lot of sweeping 
out the office and washing out spittoons, he never would 
have been postmaster of Philadelphia, or enjoyed the 
comforts he does. 

The same would have been true of Mr. Thomas Scott, 
and all other successful men of our city and State, whom 
we love to honor. I argue, therefore, that just so far 
as the colored people are made to feel that they must be 
content with their position in the sense that there is no 
higher position for them, however much they may be 
qualified for the same, just so far will their progress be 
thwarted. 

And further, just so far as the colored youths, who are 
now being educated in all our schools and colleges, as 
you admitted yesterday, are made to feel that the avenues 
which are open to the white youths, with whom they sit 
side by side, at school, and the avenues to the more lucra- 




BERKAN COTTAGE, 

Point Pleasant, N. J. 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



241 



tive walks of life are closed to them, they will be sure 
to turn their attention to the wihiskey saloon, the card 
table, the filthy haunts of vice, if not prove a still more 
deadly foe to the good of society. 

I listen with a shudder to the arguments advanced by 
gentlemen, like yourself, in regard to the colored people, 
for I see the terrible whirlwind you are sure to reap. 
In a Republican government like ours, every man should 
have an equal chance to rise. He should be content 
with his lot, but his contentment should be that of a 
student who is only content to remain in a certain posi- 
tion, till he is qualified for a higher. 

Hoping that you will pardon me for addressing you, 
and thus encroaching upon your valuable time, I am, 
Yours truly, 
MATTHEW ANDERSON, 
Pastor Berean Presbyterian Church. 

This' gentleman has since died and gone to his re- 
ward, but I am happy to state that before he passed 
away he contributed $30 to the Berean Church. 
Organizing a Building and Loan Association. 

We will give one more example. One of the first 
things which greatly surprised and chagrined us on 
coming to Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, (?) 
was the difficulty the colored people experienced in se- 
curing desirable homes. That they should occupy only 
certain districts, and these districts being situated gen- 
erally in what are designated the slums, or the most un- 
inviting of the small streets, seemed to have been agreed 
upon by the landlords generally. And from this decis- 
ion, namely, that the colored people should be relegated 
to the slums, there seemed to be no redress. The good 
and bad, the pure and corrupt, the refined and vulgar, 
the educated and ignorant, were as by the laws of the 
Medes and Persians, compelled to dwell together. And 
as a result our people were being insulted all over the 
city, whenever they attempted to get desirable homes. 
16 



242 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



Any unintelligent and rude real estate agent would think 
nothing about saying to a respectable colored woman 
or man, inquiring about the rent of a house in a desir- 
able neighborhood, that "that house can not be rented 
to colored people;" or "we have no houses for colored 
people;" or "it would be an insult to the white neighbors 
to rent that house to a colored family." And what made 
it still more discouraging there were but few colored peo- 
ple, who once having rented, had accumulated sufficient 
funds to purchase their own homes. Seeing the situation 
we resolved to do what we could to relieve them from 
this deplorable condition. We had thought of many 
schemes. One was to labor to have a law passed com- 
pelling landlords to rent their property to all classes ir- 
respective of race, color or previous condition. But we 
soon found that this was impracticable, and that we would 
be defeated in our efforts. We finally saw that the only 
practical way by which we could be of benefit to the peo- 
ple would be to get up some scheme by which they 
would be encouraged to save their money, with which 
to purchase homes for themselves. While conducting 
the Gloucester Mission in Milton Hall, we had been ac- 
customed to see an association meet, regularly every 
month, in a room in front of the one occupied by us in 
the same building. The members came usually in their 
working clothes and paid in dues. On further inquiry 
we found that this was a building and loan association, 
the object of which was to secure homes for the mem- 
bers. We found that most all the members were poor, 
hard working 'men, many of them only recently from the 
old country, and that quite a number were paying for 
their homes in this way. This we said is just what the 
colored people need, especially in the northwestern sec- 
tion of the city. Accordingly we consulted, first with 
our friend Mr. McGill, who highly approved of the idea, 
provided, that there could be created among the people 
sufficient interest to keep up the association. We had 
a number of conferences on the subject. It was finally ♦ 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



243 



agreed that I should carefully canvass the field, and se- 
cure, if possible, the sentiments of the people on the sub- 
ject, and if we found that an association was feasible, to 
submit a plan of management. After a careful investiga- 
tion we found that the people were ready for an asso- 
ciation of the kind, and we submitted to Mr. McGill, the 
following plan of management: 

First, That the Board of Directors should consist of 
white and colored persons. 

Second, That the Treasurer should be a solid business 
man of the city, of wide experience and well known 
throughout the city, and a man in whom both the white 
and colored people had the most implicit confidence. 

Third, That the President of the association, the Vice 
President and Secretary should be similarly well known 
and that they should all be colored men. 

Fourth, That the Solicitor should be one of our most 
prominent lawyers. 

In regard to the Treasurer I knew of no one who would 
answer so well, as Mr. McGill, because he not only ful- 
filled in every way the requirements, but was thoroughly 
interested in the welfare of the colored people, and was 
doing what he could to improve their condition. He fi- 
nally consented to act, provided the people wanted him, 
and that other gentlemen named come on the Board of 
management with him. It was now our duty to call upon 
the different persons we had decided upon, and get their 
assent to act. When we called upon the colored men, 
they said: "Oh, yes, Mr. Anderson, the idea is a very 
good one, but what assurance have you that the associa- 
tion will hold together after organized; for experience 
teaches that colored associations are very short lived." 
"Yes" we said, "we are sorry to admit that, as a general 
thing, that is true;" but we said, "we are going to have 
white men in the management." "Then the colored mem- 
bers," they said, "would be but mere figure heads." 
"No/'-f-said, "the management should be composed of 



244 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



white and colored men, and the officers should be the 
same." This satisfied them, and every one whose name we 
had down, consented to act. Our next duty was to call 
upon the white friends, whom we desired to come into 
the Board of Management. We first called upon a well 
known business man of large means." "Yes, Mr. Ander- 
son the idea is an excellent one," he replied, in answer 
to my statement. "What the colored people need" he con- 
tinued, "is to learn economy and save their money. It is 
not that they do not work and earn wages, but that they 
do not save their money when earned. They are too im- 
provident." "Yes, Mr. Anderson, you are exactly 
right; what is needed is a good building and loan associa- 
tion for your people, managed by good, substantial, white 
men; then it will be safe and the money will not be 

squandered." "My Dear Mr. ," we said, 

I do not mean to get up an association for colored people, 
to be managed by white men, or by black men, but by 
both white and black men conjointly. To confine the 
management to either would be to weaken its effective- 
ness, for it would never grow to any large proportions. 
We are too near to the house of bondage to have the 
management of an untried enterprise among us confined 
wholly to our own people, because there is not sufficient 
confidence among us as yet in each other, as business 
managers, for one of the secret schemes of slavery was 
to get the slaves to be suspicious of each other. Then 
again to put the management wholly in the hands of the 
whites would be to defeat the object, because the colored 
people would not take hold with any hearty interest be- 
cause they would consider themselves as being simply fig- 
ure heads., which would be true. But if the management 
would be in the hands of white and colored trustees, they 
would learn from each other, and confidence would be se- 
cured. The building and loan association, Mr. , 

which will be the most effective in getting the colored 
people to save their money, with the view of securing 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



245 



homes for themselves, must be one found on the true and 
broad principles of the American institutions; an associa- 
tion, which, while it has for its primary object, the secur- 
ing of homes for the colored people, yet its doors should 
be thrown open to all, white and black alike, and the man- 
agement, in regard to the trustees, should be composed 
of both, but that the initial idea should have special em- 
phasis. The President and Vice President should be 
colored men, and also the Secretary, but that all the 
men in the management, both white and colored, should 
be the very best that the city can afford." "You are 
right, Mr. Anderson," he said, "and you can use me any 
way you may see proper." 

Accordingly, on the 12th of February, 1888, a meeting 
was called at the Berean Presbyterian Church for the 
purpose of considering the propriety and feasibility of 
such an organization; and after a most enthusiastic ex- 
pression in favor a building and loan association was 
effected, consisting of the following officers and di- 
rectors : 



WILLIAM STILL. 
Vice-President, 
MATTHEW ANDERSON. 
Treasurer, 
JOHN McGILL. 



President, 



Secretary, 
W. W. STILL. 
Solicitor, 
GEO S. GRAHAM. 
Directors. 



William S. Reyburn, 
John H. Clower, 



Reuel Stewart, M. D., 



Thomas Walter, 



Chas. N. Brown, 
Jos. N. Pattison, 



Herkimer Rosebone, 
Joseph Clough, 



Stephen L. Nichols, 



William H. Crawford, 



Carter Williams, 
Jacob A. Jefferies, 



John A. Scott. 



246 



PRESB YTERIANISM- 



On motion of Hon. Geo. S. Graham, seconded by Mr. 
John H. Clower, the association was named in honor of 
the church, "The Berean Building and Loan Association 
of Philadelphia." 

The personnel of the Officers and Directors of the as- 
sociation July, 1897, is as follows: 

OFFICERS: 
Wm. Still, President, 244 South 12th St. 
M. Anderson, Vice-President, 1926 South College Ave. 
John McGill, Treasurer, S. E. Cor. 22d & Sp. Garden Sts. 
Hon. Geo. S. Graham, Solicitor, 560 Bullitt Building. 
W. W. Still, Secretary, 1607 Bainbridge St. 

DIRECTORS : 
R. Stewart, M. D., John H. Clower, 

John G. Parke, Robert S. Jackson, 

Chas. N. Brown, John Marshall, 

Wm. A. Drain, Chas. A. Thomas, 

F. R. Whiteside, Wm. T. Simpson, 

John M. Porter, Ph. D., A. G. Rumsey, 

H. B. Cooper. 

AUDITORS: 
Michael J. Brown, John W. Harris. 

The correctness of my position is seen, in the fact, 
that at this writing, fifty homes have been secured for the 
colored people, for the most part, in desirable neighbor- 
hoods, and that the assets are over sixty-two thousand 
dollars, while the monthly receipts are from twelve hun- 
dred to two thousand dollars. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



The Conclusion. 

In conclusion we wish to say, that notwithstanding 
the work of raising the money for the grounds and build- 
ings, of the Berean Presbyterian Church, viz.: Church 
and parsonage, was herculean, and the trials were most 
vexatious, we sincerely thank God for suffering us to 
undertake it, because the experience has been to us of 
infinite value. 

A Stronger, Wiser and Better Man. 

We are stronger, broader, wiser and in every way bet- 
ter prepared to, do yeomanry work for the Master than 
ever before. 

And then too, we are more charitably inclined, for, 
although we have been at times most severely tried and 
wounded, being often grossly insulted, for no cause, 
other than that we were identified with, and demanded 
for, a much wronged and struggling people, the same 
consideration and respect accorded to others, we are not 
entertaining any feelings of animosity, bitterness, 
revenge, or hatred, of any kind towards a single indi- 
vidual. 

On the contrary we have nothing but the most kind- 
ly feeling towards all. In fact our heart is bursting 
forth in love and gratitude towards all, who in any way 
encouraged us in our efforts, and we have nothing, but 
good will and forgiveness for them, who wronged and 
opposed us. And we would say too, that if in our zeal 
for success, we have inadvertently wronged or wounded 
the feelings of any, or in any way taken advantage of any 
one, we sincerely regret it, and beg his or her pardon. 

247 



248 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



But we would say to such, if there be any, that in all 
our work, in connection with the Berean Church, we 
never once, knowingly, or intentionally, wounded the 
feelings or took advantage of a single soul. Even when 
we administered a rebuke, which may have seemed se- 
vere or scathing, or perhaps appeared presumptuous, 
our motive was not retaliatory, but an earnest desire 
to have the person see his error, and if possible change 
his attitude towards us, and our work, as well as the 
people, we represented. 

Our motive in all our work and in making use of 
whatever methods we did was to retain and create 
friends, not enemies; to convince and convert to our 
way of thinking, not repel and embitter; to create a 
public sentiment in favor of, not against, the Negro; to 
create, build up and cause to fructify, not destroy, tear 
down and blight. 

In all of our labors in building the Berean Presby- 
terian Church we have kept before us but one thought, 
which thought can be expressed in one word, namely: 
"Success." This thought, we are happy to say, we are 
now enjoying in the full realization of its consummation. 
It has materialized. The church has been built, fur- 
nished, paid for, and turned over to the corporation. 

The Development of the Berean Church. 

Now as we enter upon the work of building up, and 
developing the moral, intellectual and spiritual part of 
the enterprise, we shall keep "Success" emblazoned 
upon our banner as our watchword, and with God's as- 
sistance, together with the sympathy and aid of our 
friends, we feel sure that success will crown our efforts. 

In regard to this second stage of our work, we beg 
leave to call the attention of our friends to a few prac- 
tical suggestions, along the line of its development. 

We have said in these pages, that in laboring among 
the colored people, as missionaries and ministers of the 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



249 



Gospel, that we must do more than preach on the Sab- 
bath. We must instruct along all the lines which per- 
tain to their moral, social, intellectual and religious well 
being. The Berean Church has already begun in this 
way, as may be seen by the institutions and organi- 
zations, which have been established for the intellectual, 
social, economical and moral development of the people. 

For example, the BEREAN KINDERGARTEN, 
which after being carried on privately for ten years, has 
since been taken under the care of the Board of Public 
Instruction. 

THE BEREAN BUILDING AND LOAN ASSO- 
CIATION, which has for its object the encouragement 
of home getting among the colored people and which 
has been the means of their securing upwards of fifty 
homes within the last nine years. 

THE BEREAN YOUNG WOMEN'S PARLOR, 
which has for its object the protection and benefit of 
young girls, who get off one day or part of a day each 
week. The "Y" Parlor is to be a home for them, where 
they can come and have a comfortable and attractive 
room with books and periodicals, and also secure a 
wholesome meal, for five or ten cents, and at the same 
time be protected from evil and contaminating influences. 

THE BEREAN CLUSTER AND WHITTIER 
LITERARY SOCIETIES, which have for their objects 
the drawing out and developing of literary tastes of the 
young people. 

THE BEREAN DISPENSARY, which was opened 
several years ago, under the supervision of the pastor's 
wife, Dr. C. V. Anderson, for the benefit of women or 
children within the immediate neighborhood of the 
church. It is hoped that in having them come to the 
church for medical treatment, they would come for spirit- 
ual healing also. This venture, however, has not been 
as successful as some others, because of the lack of 
means. 



250 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



THE BEREAN TYPE-WRITING, SHORT- 
HAND AND COPYING BUREAU. This depart- 
ment has been only recently opened. Its object is to 
give employment in time, to a number of young men 
and women, especially women, who have aspirations in 
this direction, but who can get nothing to do. One of 
the best patrons in this department is a distinguished 
professor in one of the leading Institutions of learning 
in the city. 

We hope as soon as we get sufficient encouragement 
to open up an employment bureau, where good and re- 
liable help and respectable families will be brought in 
touch with each other and both be mutually protected. 

In this connection we would mention 

The Berean Cottage. 

The Berean Cottage, or Church Home, on New York 
avenue, POINT PLEASANT, NEW JERSEY. This 
excellent charity is the gift of Mrs. Margaret M. Barber, 
of Philadelphia, and it is intended to assist in meeting 
a felt want, not only in the Berean Church, but among 
the colored people generally, namely, a first-class house 
where respectable and refined colored people can be ac- 
commodated at the sea shore without being subjected to 
insults and insinuations, and at the same time be pro- 
tected against those baneful and contaminating influ- 
ences which are so prevalent at watering places. 

The cottage is, and is not, a charity. It is a charity, 
first, in that it is a gift by Mrs. Barber to the Berean 
Presbyterian Church. Second, there is connected with 
it a fresh air fund, by which a few deserving children of 
the Sabbath School and Loyal Legion Band are assisted 
in a few days' outing at the sea. Third, a few deserving 
persons, especially ministers of the gospel and mission- 
aries, needing rest and the invigorating atmosphere of 
the sea, but unable to pay fully their way, its purpose is 
to assist. But it is not a charity in that there is anything 



ITS RELATION TO THE' NEGRO. 



251 



about it that savors of a Home, in the commonly accept- 
ed sense of the term, or a hospital, but a home in the strict 
Christian or Biblical sense, where there is a community 
of interests and disinterestedness of spirit the same as is 
seen in every well regulated and Christian home. The 
board is reasonable, not exorbitant, beyond the reach 
of our people, nor is it the lowest, that it would savor of 
charity. The design is to make Berean Cottage a mecca 
for the thinking people, men and women of the race, 
where papers will be read, addresses delivered, and ques- 
tions discussed pertaining to all subjects which are in- 
timately connected with the uplifting of the race. 

It is hoped that the Council of the Colored Presbyte- 
rian Ministers, which has been recently organized, and 
which seems to have a most promising future, will take 
an interest in Berean Cottage and assist in making it a 
Chautauquan Centre; also, that the missionaries in the 
South who come North in the summer for recreation 
and rest, will select Berean by the Sea as their haven of 
rest. 

The Cottage is situated only a square from the sea, in 
a most beautiful and picturesque part of Point Pleasant. 
The building is attractive and well appointed, and it is in 
every way adapted for the purpose for which it is used. 
While it is not large, there being accommodations for 
not more than twenty or twenty-five at one time, the 
grounds are ample, and enlargement can be made so as 
to accommodate as many as two hundred, whenever 
there will be a sufficient demand and funds to be had. 

Card players, dancing parties, wine bibbers and the 
foolishly gay are not sought. The design of the home 
is to be a recreating home, a place of rest for the hard 
working and honest toilers of the race. The men and 
women who are working earnestly and honestly for 
the uplifting of mankind irrespective of race or creed are " 
welcome to Berean Cottage. 



252 



PRESS YTERIA NISM. 



The house is under the immediate management of Dr. 
Caroline V. Anderson, and a committee of W. C. T. U. 
ladies, with an advisory board composed of broad 
minded and liberally disposed ladies and gentlemen, 
white and colored, of which the donor, Mrs. M. M. 
Barber, is one, a lady who has taken the deepest interest 
in the welfare of the colored race, as is proven by her 
princely gift, not only of this cottage, but by the large 
and well appointed school building at Aniston, Alabama, 
which she built and presented to the Board of Freedmen 
for the education of colored girls. 

Berean Cottage has had as patrons Doctors Crummell 
and Grimke, of Washington; Satterfield, Principal 
Scotia Seminary, Concord, N. C; Prof. Wm. S. Scar- 
borough, of Wilberforce University, Ohio; Mr. William 
Still, Mrs. Duterte and a number of teachers of Philadel- 
phia and other surrounding towns and cities. 

Let Those Who are Able Assist. 

We would earnestly suggest that the friends of liberal 
means assist in developing these different departments 
which have been started by contributing, first, liberally 
of their funds towards them. It may be that one friend 
will feel a special interest in one department, and another 
in another. If so let them assist the one in which they 
are the most interested. Or, if some friend should feel 
more interested in the opening of and developing a de- 
partment different from any that has been opened, and 
which shall have for its object the advancement of the 
colored people in Philadelphia generally, and the Berean 
Church in particular, we would be only too glad to have 
him or her take hold of such a department and develop it. 

Second. There is a mortgage of thirty-five hundred 
dollars against the parsonage, which we sincerely hope 
and pray that some friend or friends who have the means 
at their command will pay off. We are sure that noth- 
ing would give one greater satisfaction on leaving this 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



253 



world than the thought that they were instrumental in 
placing a struggling church upon its feet; especially if 
they are rich, and at the same time conscious of the fact 
that they cannot take anything out of this world but their 
souls and the consciousness of their life here. 

Third. We would suggest also that friends on looking 
around for charities, when they are about to make their 
wills, would not forget the Berean Church, for there is 
not a church in the country which stands in greater need 
of an endowment fund. And there is no end to the 
amount of good which it would do if it were financially 
relieved. Besides, there is no church in the country 
where the provisions of a bequest would be more strictly 
carried out, and all moneys more economically expended, 
as the Trustee Board is composed of some of the best 
business men in the city, and who, in addition, are godly 
men. 

Fourth. Legacies to the church should be made out to 
the corporate name of the church, namely: To the 
Berean Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, Pa. 

The Seal of the Spirit Upon the Work. 

But we imagine we hear some one ask, "What evi- 
dence have you, Mr. Anderson, that the seal of the 
Spirit is upon your work? For while all you have done, 
and propose to do, is excellent, still if the seal of the 
Spirit is not upon your work all that you have done is 
but a sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal." 

No one is more sensible of this fact than we, for we 
know well that unless the Holy Spirit is with us that our 
work is less than useless. Still, we know that the dis- 
ciples were three years in constant attendance upon the 
Lord, and were for forty days in expectancy at Jerusalem 
after His resurrection before the day of pentecost had 
fully come. And that Paul was some three years prepar- 
ing for the great work to which he was called before he 
entered properly upon it; while Moses was for forty 



254 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



years attending Reuel's flocks before he was commis- 
sioned to lead the Israelites up out of Egypt. Nov/., 
would any one say that the Spirit was not with the dis- 
ciples, nor with Paul, nor Moses, until they received the 
divine afflatus? 

Moses in his youthful impetuosity, thinking to hasten 
the Lord's plans, killed an Egyptian; but for his rash- 
ness and sin God drove him to the wilderness to do 
penance and learn wisdom for forty years in the land 
of Midian. The children of Israel were for forty years 
under the strictest discipline in the severe school of af- 
fliction before they were prepared to enter upon the 
conquest of Canaan, and that high national career which 
made them famous throughout the world. 

Christ Himself, though the eternal Son of God, went 
to the wilderness and for forty days and nights submitted 
to discipline and trial before he entered upon His worldly 
mission, in order that He, as a man, might be able to 
succor them that were tempted, and also be an example 
for us. While the disciples tarried at Jerusalem and 
Paul in Syria, in order to undergo special preparation 
for their work. 

Now, if Moses and the children of Israel, Christ and 
His apostles had to tarry in the wildernes until they 
were endued with special wisdom and power from on 
high, why should it be implied that the Spirit might not 
be with the Berean Church, simply because there has 
not been any great signal manifestation of His presence 
and power? Is it to be inferred because there has been 
no special outpouring that He has not been with us at 
all? 

On the same presumption we are to conclude that the 
Spirit was not with Moses until he was commissioned at 
the burning bush; nor with the children of Israel until 
they entered the promised land; nor the disciples of 
Christ until the day of Pentecost? The fact is, from the 
birth of Moses until his death, the Spirit was with him, 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



255 



defending him, teaching him and guiding him. The 
same was true of the children of Israel in all their wan- 
derings and vicissitudes in the desert. 

The Spirit was with them teaching them. And this 
was true also of the disciples of Christ. And the same is 
true of the Berean Presbyterian Church. 

From the time that the church was organized until 
the present there have been, all along, very encouraging 
evidences of the presence of the Spirit. Seldom has 
there been a communion season that some one has not 
been received into the fellowship of the church on con- 
fession of faith in the Lord Jesus, while on several in- 
stances as many as twelve and fifteen were received; and 
we feel in proportion to the number of communicants, 
the Berean Church has as many spiritually minded and 
self sacrificing members as any church in the city. 

There are members whose income is only from one 
hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars a year who 
give annually towards the support of the church from six 
to twenty-five dollars, and who take a lively interest in 
everything that pertains to the welfare of the church. 

Every year, in the winter and spring, special revival 
meetings are carried on, which are always attended with 
some good results, while on several occasions revivals of 
considerable proportion broke out, and many sinners 
were soundly converted. Some of the most self-sacrific- 
ing members of the church were converted in these 
meetings, who before being converted were seldom seen 
in any church. Besides the general manifestations of 
the Spirit's presence in the Berean Church there have 
been special manifestations. 

For example, the very first person converted under our 
ministry in connection with the Berean Church was Mrs. 
Catharine Davis, a poor, hard-working widow woman, 
who lived in a court with her two small boys. This 
woman, though perfectly upright, seldom went to any 
church, and took no special interest in religion. 



256 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



As we were without any church building at the time, 
and having no place to hold our weekly meetings, we 
conducted cottage prayer meetings in the immediate 
neighborhood of her home, though never at her house, 
as she would not consent to having the prayer meetings 
there. Calling upon her one morning, as was our cus- 
tom, we found her busy washing, at the same time tears 
streaming down her cheeks. When we inquired the 
cause she said: "Oh, Mr. Anderson, I am such a sinner; 
I feel terrible." "I am glad to hear you say so, my dear 
sister," we replied; "for Christ came to save sinners." 
We then talked to her about her soul's salvation, read 
several promises to her, and gradually led her to see the 
light. She at once surrendered herself, embraced Christ 
and was very happy. She then took us by the hand and 
said: "Now, Mr. Anderson, I would be glad to have 
you bring the prayer meeting to my house every night." 
From that day to the present Sister Davis has lived a 
consistent Christian life. 

Take another example : While doing mission work on 
one of the small streets we came across a family con- 
sisting of father and mother and four small children, a 
girl the eldest, and three boys. This family, though they 
had been for some time in the city, were comparative 
strangers. Like many families who come to the city 
from country towns, and who had seen better times, they 
did not care particularly to form acquaintances. Conse- 
quently they seldom went anywhere, not even to church, 
but remained a little community among themselves. 

When we called the mother received us most pleas- 
antly and had us speak to a sick brother, who was out 
of Christ, and who, his sister informed us, had lived a 
very fast life. We found the brother a very sick man 
indeed, evidently far gone with consumption, though 
not confined to his bed. 

At first we did not feel specially interested in this 
brother, but we were very much interested indeed in the 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



257 



family. But through the earnest solicitation on the part 
of the sister that we visit him regularly we did so, and 
became deeply interested in him; and it was not long be- 
fore we had the satisfaction of leading him to Christ. 
This brother, John Butler, was one of the twenty-six 
original members who founded the Berean Church. 

He died soon after in another State, but we were as- 
sured that he died in the full assurance of faith. The 
mother of this family was a Christian, but the father was 
not. Very soon he, too, gave himself to Christ. 

The children united with the Sabbath School, and 
when the Mission was organized into the Berean Church 
father and mother came into the organization, the father, 
John Payn, being chosen and set apart as one of the 
ruling elders soon after. 

In the course of time two of the children accepted 
Christ; first the daughter, Grace, though very young, 
and just beginning to take lessons in music, became our 
organist; then her little brother, who united with the 
church when but nine years of age, and who is now an 
active Sabbath School superintendent in Bethlehem, Pa., 
while the sister is the wife of the Rev. T. B. Tompkins, 
pastor of the St. James Presbyterian Church, New York 
city. This family was one of the most active in the 
Berean Church, and when they were about to move to 
Bethlehem we felt the loss would be irreparable. 

But they had hardly gone until another family came 
and took their place, a family which we knew as little 
about before they visited the church as we did of Brother 
Payn's. This family came from Frankford, a suburb of 
Philadelphia, and moved into the very street and identi- 
cal house that Brother Payn moved out of, a family con- 
sisting of father, mother and four children, three 
daughters and one son, the same number exactly that 
were in the other family, the order of children being re- 
versed. In this there were one son and three daughters, 
while in the other there were one daughter and three sons, 
17 



2 5 8 



PRESB YTERIANISM. 



In this the father and one daughter were Christians 
when we formed their acquaintance, in the other only the 
mother was a Christian. The father and daughter of the 
former family at once connected themselves with the 
church, and soon after the father was chosen and set 
apart as a ruling elder, which position he has rilled faith- 
fully ever since, the members having the utmost confi- 
dence in his piety. 

In the course of time the other two daughters came 
into the church, and then the son and finally the mother, 
when the whole family was in the fold. This family, 
brother James Porter's, is a credit to any church; con- 
stant, self-sacrificing, consistent and ever ready to hold 
up the hands of the pastor. 

One of the daughters, Carrie, a most lovely girl, and a 
teacher, has gone to her reward above, having died in 
the triumph of faith. The son, having worked himself 
through the School of Pharmacy, holds an important 
position in a leading drug store in Philadelphia. 

Another example is that of Phoebe Brown, a young 
woman whom we found living at service when we came 
to the city. We visited her, she gave herself to Christ 
and became one of our most active Sabbath School 
workers. She afterwards married the Rev. Robert 
Deputie, A. M., one of the native African students who 
graduated at Lincoln University. They went as mis- 
sionaries to Liberia, West Africa, where they did faith 
ful work for a number of years until God called them. 

Mrs. Abbie Firman, known as Aunt Abbie, united 
with the church early in 1882. She was old and blind, 
and lived in a little room in a court. She was a woman 
of great faith, and did as much to strengthen and en- 
courage the writer as any other; and she did as much 
comparatively towards the running expenses of the 
church as any one member. 

She had nothing to give herself, but she sat in her 
door in the summer time with a little barrel for donations, 



ITS RELATION TO THE NEGRO. 



259 



in which she would receive contributions for the Berean 
Church from all who would give her as they passed her 
door. Many times would she say to the writer: "O, Mr. 
Anderson, my barrel is full; take it and bring me an- 
other." 

At times the writer would call upon her when he 
would be very much discouraged. "Don't be discour- 
aged, Mr. Anderson," she would say, "for God has shown 
me in dreams that you will succeed. I have seen the 
church. It is to be a beauty, and you will build it, and 
pay for it, and build up a strong congregation." This 
dear sister never lived to enter the new church, but so 
far as the material building is concerned her predictions 
have been literally fulfilled. Our prayer is that her 
prediction in regard to the spiritual may be as fully 
carried out. 

Mrs. Letitia Thomas was one of the founders of the 
church, and was instant in season and out of season in 
its interest. She was one of the writer's best and most 
substantial helpers. After a lingering but patient illness 
with that fell disease — cancer — she, too, was called to her 
reward. 

Mr. Peter Stott, known as Deacon Stott, was one of 
the most active members of the Berean Church, morning 
and evening, and through the week, unless sick, he 
would be found in the meetings, and always ready to 
give an encouraging word, sometimes coming to prayer 
meetings from over seven miles in the country, where he 
lived in the summer. 

Not being able to contribute money, he took care 
of the church and lawn as his part towards the running 
expenses. He was conscientious in every thing that 
he did. Never was the church kept in a better condi- 
tion than it was by him before or since. He, also, 
has gone to his reward. 

These are a few of the many special cases of the spirits 
working in the Berean Church, which we think are 



260 



PRESB YTERIA NISM. 



sufficient to give us a reasonable hope of glorious things 
in regard to this church in the future., 

We look upon the Berean Church as a Mosaic, which 
is being formed, the parts of which when viewed in their 
scattered, unfinished, and apparently useless condition, 
appear as if they were of no account, and therefore the 
labor which is being expended upon them as useless or 
in vain; but when these fragmentary parts will have 
been brought together, having been polished and ce- 
mented into one, by the Holy Spirit; when the grand 
idea and purpose of the church will have been seen in 
all of its fullness and gradeur it will present one of the 
most beautiful Mosaics in the sisterhood of churches, 
in, this the most beautiful and interesting city, in this 
fair land, the City of Brotherly Love. 

We have now ended our sketch, and though it may 
have errors and inaccuracies, they have been of the 
head and not of the heart, for we have been most pains- 
taking and conscientious from the beginning to the 
end; and we believe, that though there may be errors, 
if the blessing of God rest upon, and His spirit go with 
it, that great and lasting good will result from our hum- 
ble effort, and to this end we pray. 



The End. 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Address 42-61 

Advantages of 63-81 

Adams, Rev. Ennels J 48-52 

Agnew, Rev. B. L., D.D 39 

Allison, Judge Joseph 192 

Amos, Rev. Thomas H 52 

American Missionary Associa- 
tion 17, 23, 177, 178-182 

Anderson, Dr. Caroline V 48 

Anderson, Hezekiah 162 

Armstrong 1 , Rev. Reuben H — 
16, 18, 37, 51, 52 

Avery Fund 162-164 

Bain, Rev. J. W., D.D 39 

Baird, Rev. James H., D.D... 48 

Baird, John 193 

Barber, Amizi L 162 

Barber, Mrs. Margaret M. 44, 245 

Barcley, The Misses 198 

Bayard, Mrs. Mary 193 

Benson, Gustavus 192 

Benson, Mrs. Gustavus 192 

B ere an — 

Christian Endeavor 41 

Kindergarten 41 

Building and Loan, 

42-44-241-248 

Cottage 44-46-245 

Cadet Corps 45 

Literary Societies 249 

Dispensary 244 

Type Writing Bureau ....144 

Young Women's Parlor 249 

Temperance Union 41 

Brockie, Wm 193 

Brethren in the Ministry, 100-101 

Brown, Miss Maggie 87 

Brown, Wm. C 179-181 

Brown, Miss Phoebe 253 

Brown, Assawattamia 153 

Brown, Morris Brown Mission, 27 

Brown, Gilbert 30, 31 

Brown, Mrs. Emma E., 15, 17, 31 

Browne, Wm. H. Esq 87 

Buxom Girl 158 

Butler 31, 257 

Call of Rev. M. Anderson— 

32, 178 



Page. 

Camp, Elder Wm. E 30 

Cattell, Rev. Wm. C, D.D....52 

Clark, Settie J 30 

Christian Endeavor 41 

Chambersburg, Pa 155 

Clough, Joseph 48 

Coates, Mrs. Anna. .100, 193, 198 

Coates, Abram 192 

Collation 48 

Conclusion 242 

Contents 9 

Contribution 87 

Converse, John H 100, 193 

Correll, Joseph 38 

Correll, Miss Eliza 38 

Cramp, Wm. M 194 

Crawford, Rev. J. Agnew, D.D., 

38 

Crawford, Mrs. Helen 45 

Crow, Alexander 193 

Cunningham, Rev. W. L., D.D., 

45 

Cuyler, Rev. Theo. L., D.D. 37 

Davis, Mrs. Catarina 250-251 

Dana, Rev. S. W., D.D 39 

Dedicatory Services 51 

Dickey, Rev. Chas. A., D.D., 48 

Disston, Mrs. Mary 193 

Disston, Hamilton 193 

Deputie, Rev. Robert, A. M., 258 
Distance too Great Between the 
White and Colored People — 
219-220 

Diver, Rev. Charles F 33, 34 

Dudes, Negro 138 

Edwards, Rev. Rob't A., D.D., 52 

Education 134, 135 

Entered New Church 36 

Epitome 50 

Events in Life 93 

Experience 147, 150, 182 

Faucet, Aaron 38 

False Friends 203-205 

Faries, The Misses 193 

Firman, Aunt Abbie. .. .258-259 
Founders of Berean Church.. 31 

Freeman, James A 193 

Friends, Personal 191 

261 



262 



INDEX. 



Page. 

Fries, Aaron 193 

Funds, Increase of 48 

Gayley, Thomas G 194 

Gloucester, Rev. John.. 13, 15, 38 
Grace Congregational Church, 

Cleveland, Ohio 148 

Green Hill Presbyterian Church, 

25 

Graham, Hon. Geo. S 39, 192 

Grimke, Mrs. Charlotte S 45 

Grimke, Rev. F. J., D.D....5, 45 

Hall, Milton 15 

Hand of God 183-285 

Harper, Rev. R. D., D.D.— 

34, 37, 38, 39 

Hawkins, Rev. N. 48 

Harvey, Joseph 193 

Henszey, Wm. P... 193 

H , Mrs, James.. ..193-198 

Hittner, Daniel D 193 

Hogg, James 38, 192 

Hogg, Wm 38, 103 

Hogg, Mrs. Catharine L., 

38, 100, 198 

Hogg, Miss Emma 38 

Hogg, J. Renwick 100, 193 

Hogg, Herbert 192 

Hogue, Robert McChaynne — 

51, 100, 193 

Home Again 153 

Hood, Miss Eva 45 

Houston, H. H 193 

Huey, Samuel S 193 

Huey, Samuel B 192-193 

Ignorance Woeful 183-185 

Incredulity 36 

Iberia College 136, 137 

Impressions of Slavery 154 

Impressions of Princeton, N. J., 
167-168 

Impressions of the South.... 156 
Janeway, Rev. T. L., D.D....48 

Jarden, Samuel H 26, 95, 96 

Jones, Rev. R. J., D.D 48 

Jones, Elder Robert 15, 25 

Jones, Wm. H 15 

Jones, Mrs. Margaret 88 

Johnson, Wm. J 15 

Knight, Mrs. Louisa 15 

Kennedy, Mrs. Rob't Lenox, 193 

Lav at t, Rev. James 18 

Life Work 176-177 

Love for the Work South 160 

Lynch, Rev. Wm. A 52 

Let Those Who are Able Assist, 
252-253 

McGill, John, 

38, 52, 97, 98, 99, 193, 200-207 



Page. 

McGill, Mrs. John 38 

McGill, Prof. Alexander, D.D., 

LL. D 162-265 

Mclnnis, John T 192, 199 

Mclnnis, Mrs. John T...193, 198 

Martin, Joseph J 192 

Massey, William 192, 193 

Massey, Mrs. William 199 

Massey, Mrs. Mary 199 

Moffat, Prof. James C, D.D., 
166, 168 

Motives 191 

Mellen, Miss Susan (Mrs. Sher- 
idan) 15, 16 

Mount Zion Congregational 
Church, Cleveland, Ohio.... 23 

Mutchmore, Rev. Samuel A., 
D.D 30, 38, 39 

Newkirk, Rev. Matthew, D.D., 

39 

Nicholas, Rev. W. D., D.D., 
30, 31, 34 

Nichols, Elder Joseph 30 

Negro Students at Princeton 

Seminary 173-175 

Negro Students at Princeton 

College 175-176 

Nevin,Rev. Alfred, D.D., LL.D., 
37, 39 

Nevin, Rev. Edward H., D.D., 

37 

New Haven 182 

Oberlin College — 

Experiences 143-145 

Left Oberlin 154 

Return to Oberlin 162 

Graduated at Oberlin 163 

Ogden, Robert C 52 

Organization 18 

Otto, The Misses 194, 198 

Outline History of the Mendi 

Mission, W. A 177-178 

Patterson, Miss Nellie Ringold, 

38 

Patrick, Robert 52 

Payn — 

Elder, John 30, 252 

Mrs. John 251 

Grace 252 

Elmer 252 

Paxton, Prof. Wm. M., D.D., 

LL. D 36, 37 

Peace and Harmony 214-215 

Pierce, Judge 192 

Peirce, George 89 

Pity for the Negro Contempt- 
ible 216 

Phillips, Rev. H. L 52 



INDEX. 



263 



Page. 

Plan of Management 243 

Prejudice — 

Rebuked 180-182 

At Princeton 184 

Possibilities of Berean Church, 

34 

Potter, Rev. Frank J 52 

Porter— * 

Elder, James; Elizabeth, Car- 
rie, Amelia, Hester and 

John 257-258 

Presbytery of Philadelphia Cen- 
tral 48 

Providence, Guided by the 

Hand of 134-135 

Property of Church Turned 

Over to Trustees 205-206 

Princeton 163 

Reeve, Rev. John B., D.D.— 
13, 15, 16, 20, 22, 39, 52, 94, 185 

Report, Dr. Reual Stewart 48 

Reports of Work Among- Freed- 

men 72 

Resignation 210-214 

Rebuked Young Southerner, 157 

Resume 188 

Reyburn, Wm. S 100, 193 

Richelson, Rev. John 213 

Ritchie, Craig D 88 

Robeson, Rev. Wm. D 52 

Robinson, Rev. Thomas H., D. 

D 164, 184 

Rollins, E. A 192-193 

Room, A lumber 166 

Room, A Good 166, 167 

Ryder, Rev. Chas., D. D. 162-163 

Revelations 179 

Rules of life 188-187 

Scott, Samuel G 39 

Scarborough, Prof. Wm. S. 

179-181 

Scott, Thomas 206-208 

Secretaries of the American 

Missionary Association 179-181 

Sermon, first delivered 29 

Sentinel, Philadelphia ...101-105 

Seal of the spirit 253-260 

Severe measures ressorted to, 

Examples — 

1. A Wealthy Lady . .223-225 

2. A Railroad Official 225-229 

3. An Aristocratic Young 

Woman 229-231 



Page. 

4. A Philanthropist.. 232-235 

5. A Gentleman 235-236 

6. Stand taken in beginning 

a Building and Loan 

Association 241-246 

Singers, Fisk Jubilee 23 

Sights in the South 156 

Singerly, Mrs. Catharine, 189,193 

Singerly, Wm. M 89 

Still, Wm 15, 17, 30 

Still, W. W 18, 30 

Still, Mrs. Carolina V.. ..162-163 

Stipulation 35 

Stewart, Dr. Reuel 48, 52 

Stewart, Prof. J. McCants, 39 

Stevenson, Elder John B 30 

Stryher, Mrs. Flora 38 

Sweatmore N. C 100 

Tanner, Bishop B. T 39 

Templeton, Rev. Wm. R 52 

Temperance 41 

Temple Street Congregational 

Church 23 

Thompson, Miss Susan ..15, 17 

Thain, David 192-193 

Thomas, Mrs, Letitia 259 

Thissell, Elder Horatio N., 88, 97 

Tour Lecturing 145-146 

Turning Point in Life ... .152-153 

Unmanly Negroes 220-221 

Unwise Trustees 208 

Wanamaker, Hon. John 89 

Walked to Bena from Cleve- 
land 15] 

V/iswell, Rev. G. L., D.D 33 

Western Classmates at Prince- 
ton 169, 172 

Western Theological Seminary, 

162 

Went South 154 

Whillden, Mr. Alexander 192 

Williams, Dr. Edwin 192 

Wiser Man 247 

Who will Pay the Balance of 

the Debt 216 

Wood, Thomas 100 

Wood, Mrs. Thomas 198 

Wood, Wm 48, 100 

Wood, Rev. Charles, D.D 52 

Work, Rev. Wm. R 33 

Work of Rev. M. Anderson — 
91, 92 



